Finding Comfort: Growing Pains
by batwheelsz350
Summary: Sequel fic to Finding Comfort. After over 3 years of the Justice League, Diana is forced into a mission from her gods and goddesses that she's to face without the Justice League. She'll make choices that are much more difficult than she'd ever imagined. BMWW & HGGL among others. Disclaimer: DC characters are not owned by me, this is not for profit so don't sue.
1. Chapter 1: Happy Returns

Batman with Diana's suggestions decides to become more involved with the JL again as the New Year approaches.

Chapter 1: Happy Returns

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><p>There was a thunderous thud sounding from down the corridor which led to the training area of the Watchtower. It was loud enough that even the Man of Steel picked up on it from the opposite end of the space station where he was serving his scheduled Monitor Duty. He had some level of concern, but knowing who it was in the training room at that time left such activity to almost be expected. After all the happenings and tension of the last few months that Batman had caused, he certainly had whatever punishment he'd likely been the recipient of coming to him. Another crashing sound sent a small smile to Superman's face as that indicated that Bruce was still fit enough to continue on since the "training session" had obviously not paused or stopped yet. He wondered just how long the fabled Batman would be licking his wounds after this day was over, and that thought caused an even larger smile to spread across his face.<p>

Flash came speeding into the Monitor Womb at that point even though his shift wasn't supposed to begin for another two hours. Normally he'd only arrive the very second his shift was set to begin, which meant that he was there for ulterior motives now. Superman's knowing what was going on inside the Watchtower at the moment was enough for the investigative reporter in him to assume just what that was as Flash came to an abrupt halt before the interior security monitors. "Don't even think about it Flash." Superman admonished preemptively. "You'll only get yourself in more trouble with Batman if you try it."

"Oh come on Supes, how would he even know?" Flash complained. "It's not like he'll be in a position to know what I'm doing right now anyways."

"Not while I'm in here." Superman continued. "I'm not going to be held accountable for your snooping, so if you're still planning to use the security cameras to eavesdrop, then at least let me head to the commissary before you do. That way I have plausible deniability as well as the security feed to prove I wasn't involved. Regardless of what you think, Batman will find out and he WILL get even."

Flash's shoulders slumped upon hearing that. Even though he was still intrigued and curious, he knew that Superman was most likely right. And if big blue wasn't willing to even be in the same room when the security feed was keyed up, then that meant retribution from Batman wouldn't be pleasant in the least. If there was anything that Flash wanted to avoid at all costs, it was any form of retribution from Batman. So he dragged his feet as he left, leaving the Monitor Womb behind in a downtrodden posture, knowing that he was missing out on some potentially juicy material between what Batman and Diana were doing in the training room.

"Not bad." Batman arrogantly commented as he stole a glance up to the fist that Diana had slammed into the wall just above his ducking form. She then went for a kick, thinking he was in a prone position being crouched underneath the arm she'd used in an attempt to knock him upside his head. She growled in frustration though as he was apparently ready for that attempt as well, diving just over her thigh and rolling over before ending up back on his feet as he spun around to face her again.

Batman feigned a strike at Diana's face, but she'd also been biding her time as well. Something she chose to hide from him was the fact that over the last year she'd worked diligently on controlling her patience, and it'd just paid dividends for her. She'd been waiting patiently for him to even feign a strike at her head the whole time even though she'd been angry with him to the point of basically carrying him straight to the training room as soon as he'd boarded the Watchtower. It was the first time that he'd been there since the one and only mission that they'd both been involved with, and after reading his report, Diana had been more than angry with him. According to the report, Diana's lack of patience had been the cause of a ship's containers being lost at sea during an attack by what at first was believed to be pirates. That information had turned out to be somewhat inaccurate though as it'd been Shade and Cheetah with some Meta level strength hired goons. While piracy was the agenda, these were hardly what could be considered regular pirates. At the time of the mission, Batman wanted to wait to see what they were doing with the containers, but once the first crate was tossed into the sea, Diana reacted. In the scuffle, more of the crates would up sinking into the ocean's depths, and because of that Batman had insinuated that it was Diana's fault. She'd argued her point in that the crooks were already pushing a second crate off the ship by the time they'd spotted her, and there was no telling how many more they would've continued to push off if she hadn't acted, but he just didn't see it that way.

In truth, Batman had done little things like that to everyone aboard the Watchtower. It was driving some of them mad with anger pointed directly toward him. At one instance Shayera even had to have her mace forcibly removed from her grip as she chased after him. Superman had been concerned that she was actually going to strike Batman with it when he snatched it from her grasp. In fact, the last time Batman had been even remotely pleasant to anyone was almost a whole year ago, when Diana had spoken to him after he'd managed to negotiate the removal of Agent Faraday as liaison between the US government and the Justice League. Ever since then, he'd only been aboard the Watchtower to search for any possible spyware or recording devices that might've been planted there by King Faraday. As soon as he was confident that the space station was secure, he'd basically stopped coming at all aside from just a few instances where he couldn't avoid it. Diana didn't even need to use every digit on one hand to count those instances. But now she had him right where she wanted him. The feint played right into her hands literally, as with the speed of Hermes, she quickly latched onto his arm and performed a violent hip toss that sent him crashing to the ground. Hard. It was more than enough that he'd had the wind driven out of him, and that wasn't helped by Diana immediately slamming herself into a full mount position on top of him with her hands grabbing him by the wrists, and raising his arms above his head as she leaned down on him. Batman's chest was heaving up and down as his body worked to reestablish normal breathing. It was then that she realized just how close their bodies were to each other, and Diana's mind then flashed back to that vivid dream she'd had while recovering from her injuries sustained at Ra's al Ghul's former palace. That was enough to cause her to immediately release Bruce and climb up off of him, and once standing she hugged herself as she turned away from him in an attempt to hide the awkward feeling that was trying to overtake her.

Ever since she'd experienced that dream with Batman in the medical recovery room, she'd been conflicted with what to do about it. Even though J'onn had encouraged her to share the details of the dream with Batman so that he could help her sift through the cause and what it could mean, she just couldn't bring herself to share the intimate details with him. Instead she decided to try and just leave that dream as a part of the past, not to be brought up again. Especially after her patron gods and goddesses proclaimed the dream was not caused by any of them. She'd taken some time and traveled back to her homeland, where she focused on training and purging the lingering effects of that dream from her mind. Each visit had made things better, not only with her line of thoughts concerning Batman, but it also improved the tension between her mother and her from the decision to leave the island to help man's world. Now when she'd return to Themyscira, her mother would merely ask about how things were progressing in her mission of teaching peace to the world as well as listening to stories about her adventures with members of the Justice League. But now in one instance, all of that meditation and training to strengthen the resolve of her mind came crashing back down in just one moment of close proximity to that man. How did he seem to have such control over her thoughts without even doing anything?

"I suppose I had that coming." Batman commented as he sat up before eventually getting back to a vertical base, standing just before her. He quickly read Diana's body language even though she was working diligently to hide anything from him. "Although, I'm surprised you let me up without my submitting first." He added for extra emphasis to see how she'd react.

"You were beaten, and yes you did have that coming to you." Diana responded, the competitive juices beginning to flow once again and overtake her awkward feelings as Bruce seemed to be attempting to state that he'd not been defeated. His reply had helped to refocus back to wanting to spar, but there was still that lingering feeling deep inside mixed with some sadness. He was acting like he had before the conflict with Ra's al Ghul, but why? She needed to know what had changed in him. "But why have you been acting the way you have on the rare occasions that you have _graced _us with your presence?" She asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Batman replied in denial as he stalked over to grab a bottle of water from the bench against the wall of the training room. "I've been busy tracking down leads on who's been trying to spy on the League. Not to mention that it's taken months for Nightwing, Batgirl, and I to get Gotham and Bludhaven back to normal. Besides I've been myself when I've been here otherwise."

"No, you haven't." Diana calmly argued. "You've been extra critical of everyone, and cold towards us all. Well… colder than normal. Before you'd at least offer a grunt in response to topics that weren't mission related, but now you don't even do that. I just want to understand what we've done to cause this change in you, and to know if there's anything that we can do to get the old Batman back."

Batman stiffened for a moment before tossing Diana the bottle of water he'd gotten for her as she came over to his direction, joining him before taking a seat on the bench just behind him. He watched her as she sat down before eventually taking a seat next to her with a huff of air puffing out of his lungs. He took a swig of water as his mind continued to process what Diana had said, and then looked down at his feet before eventually releasing a sigh. "Every time I've come up here since then, I haven't been able to stop wondering what more could've been found out about us by whomever it was that used Faraday's liaison role to their advantage." He explained. "I wonder if anyone in my family is now in more danger because of their relationship with me, and it bothers me to no end that no one up here seemed to think of the consequences that could result from allowing a government official to have access to us here. Especially Superman, who has something to hide, to protect, and he let it happen willingly."

"All we can do is what's been done though." Diana replied. "Everyone's apologized for letting King have access to the Watchtower, some like Kal have said so more than once. I think its time that you accept that and attempt to move forward. We grew so close in that last year as teammates, and I'd like to think as friends as well. We've missed you."

"I'll work on that princess." Batman responded quietly after he snorted in disbelief about any of them honestly missing him. "I didn't mean to cause such a problem for everyone….well… except the Boy Scout and Flash."

Diana smiled as she felt that her friend had finally returned based upon his response. "Perhaps you can make it up to me then." She offered with a mischievous smile gracing her face. When Batman looked at her questioningly, thoughts traveled through her mind as to just what she could ask of him that he'd actually say yes to. For a moment she thought about tempting the fates with the intimate desire that today somehow managed to creep up before she pushed it aside, but settled on something that would more likely be accepted. "Last year if you recall, you'd offered to work out a training schedule for the two of us so that I could increase my knowledge in different fighting techniques. With my sisters remaining separated from the rest of the world for so long, and the times that you've managed to take me down in the past, I feel that there's still a lot I have to learn. Would you be willing to keep your word and set aside at least some time for training sessions between the two of us?"

Batman continued to sit there quietly, pondering her request and studying Diana for a moment. He had to admit that he was still curious as to how willingly she'd take to training with him and improving her skills as a fighter. If he did teach her some different fighting styles, then perhaps he could one day better focus on Justice League missions and not worry about Diana's wellbeing. "Alright princess." He finally answered. "I'll set up some time before my shift on Monitor Duty each week. So long as no issues in Gotham take that time away, we can train together." He also was thinking about how it could benefit him as well by training regularly against a high class Meta human as well. "For now though, I need to get back to Gotham."

"Thank you Br….Batman." Diana said, recalling that he'd mandated no one was to call him by his actual name aboard the Watchtower. There were still teammates that didn't have that knowledge, and he wanted to keep it that way. That desire was even stronger when he factored in how the spies could've had Faraday plant audio bugs throughout the space station as well. Since Diana received the answer she wanted, she stood up with him and swiftly yet chastely placed a kiss on his cheek in gratitude for accepting her request before making her exit with him following close behind. Had she looked back to see her new training partner, she'd have noticed that her cheeks weren't the only ones that had darkened into a more rosy appearance, but with her own cheeks heating and surely showing at least a slight change in hue there, it had caused her to keep looking forward. Batman had certainly not expected such an act of affection, especially after how he'd been treating everyone aboard the Watchtower for the better part of the last year. He knew that his anger had been driving him for quite some time, but perhaps a year was enough time to finally let that error in judgement go. They'd certainly refrained from such decisions without at least seeking his council since then. Besides, he had been getting nowhere in his search for the spies, and perhaps some fresh eyes would find something he'd missed on the search for these people that seemed so interested in each member of the Justice League. There was always Shayera's detective skills or another quality provided from another teammate that might prove useful in picking up on a different breadcrumb trail that would be more fruitful in attaining any useful information. Whoever it was that was trying to spy on them certainly didn't want to be found, and that was what specifically troubled Batman the most.

Although if Bruce would've been honest with himself as well, he'd have to admit that his anger wasn't the only thing that had kept his mood more sour than normal. Something else that'd been missing since the battle with Ra's al Ghul and Bane was that Diana had all but stopped going out to functions where she and Bruce Wayne could bump into each other. He refused to put much credence into that as a possibility even though it did do something to him inside that he had to forcibly push from his thoughts at times. For now though, he needed to return to the Batcave so that he could continue preparing Tim for his first official patrol as Robin.

~~ North Africa ~~

A scientific expedition had traveled to the archaeological site that had at one time been a vastly wealthy city by the name of Djenne-Djeno. The lead archaeologist, Arnold Ward-Perkins, had taken up after his famous grandfather John Bryan Ward-Perkins. More specifically, he had taken up searching for artifacts in northern Africa, where his grandfather had been stationed during World War II, serving for the British Royal Artillery. He had been assigned at that time to protect the sites of Leptis Magna and Sabrina, where he'd gained intimate knowledge with regard to Tripolitania and its Roman ruins. That in and of itself would be more than enough to establish a famed career for an archaeologist, but as he accrued items and trinkets through his discoveries, it was inside one of these trinkets passed down to his grandson that had been the cause of this most recent adventure. Arnold had been given a strange looking vase thought to have been a piece from the Roman Empire. On a warm day during the summer, Arnold's wife had delicately moved the vase while cleaning, and when she set it down on the floor, its slightly rounded base caused it to teeter and eventually fall onto its side. Arnold had happened to be walking through that room at just the right time, because after hearing the first thud of the vase hitting the floor, there was also a second thud that could be heard.

Arnold was extremely careful with the vase as he turned it over and over again. Eventually, while he couldn't hear it, he could feel something that had moved from inside the base. Extensive investigation was performed, searching for an access to whatever it was that had come loose inside. Days had gone by with no conclusion as to how access could be gained, as he didn't have the desire to damage such an artifact. Eventually though, curiosity won out as whatever had been placed inside was meant to stay safe like a piggy bank. Only no amount of shaking would release the contents of this vase. Instead, breaking it open was the only way to discover the secrets inside. Arnold was very careful to be sure that he didn't damage whatever it was that had bee stored, and after carefully dissecting the vase, he was finally successful in reaching the small compartment that had been intentionally designed when the vase was created. Inside this compartment was a stone in a rectangular shape. He put the stone through various different forms of analyzation, and quickly discovered that it was hollowed out on the inside. When he managed to open it up, there were a few pieces of gold bullion as well as a safely tucked piece of parchment. Upon safe removal of the parchment, he discovered that something had been hidden inside the city of Djenne-Djeno. A symbol on the parchment was what had caught his attention about just what that could be. The symbol was the All Seeing Eye that appeared to have been stamped over a triangle.

Arnold had then become obsessed with researching this symbol as he believed that it was directly related to an artifact that the parchment was referencing. He spent months digging through every piece of material he could find, and the most promising piece of information he found pointed to an artifact that was said to be called the Triangle of Light. This was of course all theoretical as no one had seen anything that even offered a glimpse as to where to begin searching until now. Arnold wasted little time in gathering up a team to join him on this quest for knowledge. He'd been able to acquire three interns as well as some men that would help them on their journey upon reaching Africa.

Once in Africa, Arnold was taken to the archaeological site that had once been Djenne-Djeno. Along the trip, he'd researched the ancient city and had found numerous stories and rumors about it. The most likely scenario he discovered upon reaching his destination was that the city had been surrounded by a great stone wall, which helped to protect the wealth of gold, tin, and copper that was kept there. It was said that in ancient times, Malians of the Mali Empire had attacked the city ninety-nine times and it never fell. It wasn't until the early fifteenth century that the city was finally conquered by a Sonni Ali during his expansion of the Songhai Empire. This was the time that the Triangle of Light had ceased to be heard of by anyone at all. Stories foretold that the chief ordered the relic to be sealed off so that the intruders wouldn't be able to use it for its power before he was killed in the siege that swiftly fell upon the city. Sonni Ali ended up taking the chief's widow and married her for himself before peace was brought back to the city. However peace was short lived for the residents as mother nature happened to step in during the wet season, flooding the city with the overflow of the Niger and Bani Rivers. With the flooding and the Songhai being defeated in battle during the Battle of Tondibi, the city was stripped of its gold and left to die until it was rebuilt close by once again and became a thriving centre of trade and learning for many Muslims, using salt from the nearby mines there as a catalyst.

Still though there was no sign of the Triangle of Light. Not until Arnold had located the parchment had anyone even had any clues about where it could possibly have been taken to or hidden. Arnold and his team hoped that now they would uncover the truth as they had researched and researched every symbol and translated word the parchment provided. They knew that they had the clues, and now the only thing left to do was to follow them until they found what it was they were looking for.

~~ Gotham, two months later ~~

Batman had been battling with what seemed like every high profile enemy that Gotham had available. First it was the Riddler attempting to outsmart him in a quest to control the city, but that only lasted a couple of hours at best before the tables had been turned and Riddler was heading straight back to Arkham. The Joker meanwhile had taken advantage of that distraction in an attempt to fill his pockets with a bank robbing crime spree. He might have gotten away with it, but greed played the main catalyst for his night's end as he'd bet against the house one too many times and ended up crapping out to the fists of Batman breaking his nose and ending his night on a bloody and sour note.

Even the low lives of Gotham were incredibly active on this night too. Batman surmised it to simply be something about New Years Eve that just seemed to bring the crazies out more so than normal. Perhaps it was that jolt of booze which helped to raise their bravery. He would've thought by now though that he'd have set a precedent for New Year's. The Batman didn't stay in and celebrate this holiday, and he didn't simply take it off to relax either. In fact it was just the opposite. He was even more vigilant, and depending on whom it was, slightly more violent in how to bring that vermin to justice. Broken bones were more likely on this night than most, but still they continued to pour out of the shadows in droves. It was almost a blessing though for Bruce that on this night, he'd officially allowed Tim to join him as a full fledged member of the Batclan.

Even though Tim had done so much while Bruce was healing from his injured back compliments of Bane, once he returned to patrolling the city again, he'd forbidden Tim from joining. The young man had yet to go through Bruce's training regimen, and Bruce demanded that it had to be done before he'd accept that Tim was ready to become Robin officially. At first the boy argued and had valid points to offer, but Bruce wouldn't budge. Tim's desire to be Robin was the only thing that kept him from walking away, and when this night arrived, he was glad that he'd stayed. Not only did Bruce tell him that he was ready, he also revealed a new Robin suit. The red was much darker than Dick's original uniform, and it now mostly covered the entire suit, leaving no green to be seen. Also gone was most of the yellow as it now donned a fully black cape and hood. Bruce's goal was to help in using the shadows more effectively for the young man. He'd also upgraded all of the armor plating with a new metal alloy that Wayne Enterprises was going to release soon as a replacement for Kevlar. It was lighter in weight and three times stronger in penetration testing. The only difference with Robin's armor when compared to police grade material was that like the Batsuit, it was kinetically charged to help absorb any punishment, should a Meta strike him.

As the night wore on though, the crimes eventually dwindled down in numbers. The midnight hour had long since passed, but Bruce didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad one yet. He only wished that he wouldn't get the question in that thought answered as he heard something move behind him, and instinctively rolled out of the way just before a large cinder block flew through the air that now occupied the space where his head had been only mere milliseconds ago. He turned in the direction of where the block would've come from and ground his teeth menacingly. "Bane." He seethed as he focused in on the masked monster. It'd been since the incident at what used to be one of Ra's al Ghul's palaces when he'd last encountered Bane. Back then, Batman had been in certainly less that 100% health, but he'd had ample time to heal since then and two months of training with a certain super powered Amazon under his belt.

Robin had circled around carefully, with his memories flashing back vividly to that night that seemed to have been ages ago. The images of a broken Bruce and severely beaten Dick and Barbara remained etched clearly in his memory. This time would be different though. There hadn't been an explosion freeing all the inmates of Arkham that had left Batman on the brink of exhaustion, and now he also had Robin with him to help even the odds. This time was going to be different as Tim landed on the same rooftop. "Robin, get back to the Batmobile, NOW." Batman ordered immediately.

"Wait, what?" Tim questioned as if he'd thought Bruce had lost his mind.

"The Bat is merely giving you the chance to avoid the beatings I provided to his other students." Bane answered arrogantly. "Fear not little Bird. Once I've finished with your master, no vehicle will protect you from meeting a similar fate."

Batman flipped in the air, landing directly between Tim and Bane. "You're not going to touch him." Batman spat out in anger before glancing toward his student. "I gave you an order Robin. Get to the Batmobile, and wait for me there."

Tim was reluctant, but he did as he was instructed, leaping off the rooftop and firing his grapnel to a neighboring building. Once he was clear from view, Batman provided Bane with his full attention. "So, you finally dug yourself out of that rubble, and you come back here looking for me?" Batman half taunted while at the same time half questioning. He pulled out a few batarangs as the two combatants began to circle each other.

"You are the only mark that has returned after coming up against me." Bane explained. "Now I have no contract to abide to, so I can do more than break you. I can end the Batman now."

"We'll see." Batman taunted this time with a hand gesture chiding Bane to attack, and attack he did. Bane charged fast, swinging his powerful fists in aggressive motions intending to do maximum damage. This time however, he wasn't connecting with near the success he had in their first and even second encounters against one another. The first fight had been immediately after Batman expended so much energy rounding up all the fugitives that had escaped from Arkham before Bane attacked. The second battle happened at Ra's al Ghul's palace and was so soon after the injuries Bane had already caused that Batman was nowhere near healed enough to have stood a fighting chance. Now though, Batman was well rested and healed. This time he had studied and prepared. Each swing Bane made now was deftly avoided.

The only thing that Batman's studies hadn't granted him was the sheer speed and power that Bane's strikes brought, and Batman was using this opportunity to get that timing down as he continued to dodge attempt after attempt. When he felt confident enough that he had the speed and timing down, the next attempted punch was blocked and countered with a straight right jab that connected to the bridge of Bane's nose. The beast of a man was knocked backward as Batman had put a lot of power behind that punch and made solid contact. Bane however shook off that strike quickly to see Batman now charging at him when two putty filled batarangs were thrown at Bane's feet. Upon contact, they both exploded, leaving a gooey glue mess around his ankles and virtually tying him to the ground to where he couldn't move his legs. Just as he looked up, Bane saw the heel of Batman's boot before the spinning heel kick made contact with his jaw. It was here where Batman had made his only mistake. The putty prevented Bane from tumbling to the ground or at the very least from falling back a few steps. That allowed Bane to still be close when his arms flailed in the human response to falling. He'd grabbed for anything he could, and that something was Batman's cape as it fluttered by his face. As soon as Bane realized what he had hold of, he gave a swift and mighty tug which brought Batman up off his feet. Bane continued that motion before releasing the cape and sending Batman flying until his body connected violently into the ledge of the rooftop. The force was strong enough that the block and mortar actually cracked and started to give way with some debris crumbling on the outer side of the wall breaking free entirely and falling down to the streets below.

Batman grabbed his arm as he felt the pain surging through it after slamming into that half wall at the building's ledge. He was certain that there was a minimum of a hairline fracture to be dealt with, but what worried him at that moment was the fact that Bane had also worked and freed one of his feet. It would only be a few seconds before he had the other free as well, and Batman was still working his way back to a vertical base himself. He knew that any blow he received from Bane could end up being his own undoing, but the monster needed to be stopped before he could hurt anyone else.


	2. Chapter 2: The Triangle of Light

It's nearing the end of the Christmas and New Years season for the Justice League and an archaeologist makes and astounding discovery.

Chapter 2: The Triangle of Light

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><p>Tim had gotten back to the Batmobile, and was sulking slightly as he'd not agreed with being sent away. He felt that he could've helped Batman against Bane in some fashion and wasn't comfortable with the thought of his mentor taking Bane on alone again after how badly things had ended the last time. At first when he'd climbed into the Batmobile he just sat there slumping in the passenger seat with his arms folded across his chest. He knew that Dick and Barbara were both patrolling in Bludhaven, and even if he were to reach out to them, the fight would be over well before they could reach Bruce. Calling the Justice League was not an option either, but that was because of Tim being well aware of Bruce's policy on Meta's inside his city. It was then that he noticed a red light flashing on the dashboard. He leaned forward, curious as to what the light was indicating, and pressed the button under the flashing light. A screen powered on to reveal the biometrics readouts from the sensors laced into the Batsuit. He glanced over the numbers, but not being a medical expert yet, Tim didn't know if anything was at a critical level. He could only assume that the indicator light flashing was a bad thing.<p>

Breathe. That thought was stringing its way through Bruce's mind as he'd let Bane get too close and now had the beast of a man's hand wrapped around his throat, slowly choking the life from him. When Bane had first latched onto Batman's neck, the natural reaction was to bring his own hands up to try and pry Bane's hand away. "Umm, Batman." Bruce heard the slightly nervous tone of Tim from his communicator. "There are alarms going off in the Batmobile. I know how you feel about asking for help but…."

"No." Batman ground out to the surprise of Bane. The large man was also surprised to see Batman stand more firmly on his own two feet before he forcefully struck with a kick to Bane's forward leg. The kick directly hit in Bane's knee, almost buckling it. Batman then pulled out a razor edged batarang and stabbed Bane in the arm just before he engaged the Batsuit's electro charged security system, sending all of the voltage into Bane's body. The current surged for almost ten seconds, and when it stopped, Bane had lost control of his motor functions long enough for Batman to get free of the chokehold. Just as Bane regained control of his body, he saw a batarang being thrown by the Dark Knight. It seemed to fly in slow motion as it flew passed him before curving around and coming back where it struck him in his back. He began to chuckle as he didn't feel a thing from the little toy. That was up until the moment where Batman flipped over his next attempt at connecting with a punch aimed at Batman's head, and upon landing he grabbed the batarang. Bane then knew that the throw was just a step in Batman's planned attack as he pulled violently, ripping the venom tube in half. The effects were almost immediate as the masked man felt his strength dwindling rapidly. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't feel much more though as he was punched directly in the face with a powerful overhand left that caused the world to go black around him.

"Bane's down." Batman stated. "Bring the cuffs from behind the backseat that are designed for Meta's. We've got a New Year's gift for Commissioner Gordon."

~~ Watchtower ~~

Diana was trying her best not to be distracted by what had actually not taken place earlier on this day. In the two months since she'd convinced him to train together with her, Bruce had only missed their training/sparring sessions on one occasion, and at that time, he'd called in to inform her that something had come up. She knew that there would be times where he simply wouldn't be able to make it up to train, but she'd hoped that he would at least make contact at some point to let her know that he was alright at the very least. With the Justice League running on a skeleton crew during the holiday season, training with Bruce served as a great distraction for her that helped make the days go by faster. Each session had become easier for her to handle dealing with the effects of the dream as well, and she didn't want that progress to be lost. It'd been so very awkward at times around Bruce, and she truly hoped that he hadn't picked up on it, but since he was Batman, that wasn't going to be very likely. Still though even if he did notice, he never once brought it up and never shied away from training with her. Diana had also made quite a bit of progress in picking up some moves that she could implement into her own fighting style. She'd also discovered that her appetite for expanding that knowledge base was voracious to say the least and seemingly never sated.

With Shayera currently offering assistance in an off-world conflict and Batman a no show for his scheduled monitor duty, J'onn and Diana had chosen to swap back and forth between the two of them on Monitor Duty shifts. J'onn had willingly set up the schedule so that Diana could have her training session with Batman while he covered what otherwise would've been Shayera's shift before Batman took over. That left her in her current situation. She had noticed how Gotham City was making the rounds on the news reports for criminal activity, but nothing reached a level where League involvement would be deemed necessary. Not quite half way into the first hour though, an alarm sounded to inform the Watchtower personnel that a guest was arriving. She moved over to the internal security feed to see who had come aboard only to find that it was the man that'd been on her mind. She watched the video feed for a moment or so longer than necessary, but as she started to look away she happened to notice how Batman was ever so slightly holding his arm protectively as though he'd been injured.

It hadn't been but a few minutes later and the door to the Monitor Womb slid open, granting Batman access. He marched over to the monitoring area where Diana had been standing. She was watching him intently as she focused on validating if her initial assumption was accurate about his health. He certainly was doing well in hiding any sign of injury by this point, so Diana decided that another tactic may be more successful. "You're late." She commented.

"It couldn't be helped." Batman responded. "I'd have called, but with the holiday, Gotham was more active than normal."

"I hope it wasn't very difficult." She replied. "I saw some of the reports as they came in."

"Nothing I couldn't handle." He answered. "I'll take over my shift from this point on. J'onn and you have covered enough already. You can head back to your quarters to get some rest."

Diana was about to accept that she had just been seeing things until she placed a hand on his arm as she moved passed him to make her exit. His grimace was minimal, but she still caught it. She came to an abrupt stop placing her hands on her hips and gave him a disapproving glare. "It looks like the night was slightly more difficult than you're letting on Batman." She suggested as she reached up and gave a small squeeze to that same arm. "Want to tell me what happened or should I use my lasso to get the truth?"

"Just a hairline fracture." Batman answered quickly, but when Diana frowned and began to reach for the lasso, he knew he should just get it out of the way and be done with it. He sighed as he knew of the argument to come. "Bane decided to show himself and I stopped him. He pushed me into a wall once during the scuffle. End of story."

"Tell me you didn't take on Bane by yourself." Diana half pleaded, but one look at Batman told her that he'd be lying if he did. "Br… Batman…what were you thinking? After the last time Bane confronted you, he left you nearly paralyzed."

"I was ready for him this time." Batman fired back. "He's taken care of, and my arm's fine. It'll be back to 100% in a week or two."

"You are just infuriating sometimes!" Diana yelled. "Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of trust. You took an unnecessary risk."

"That risk was MY decision Diana." Batman yelled back. "Gotham is my city and I'm not going to change it regardless of whom I'm up against. So unless you have something else to inform me about with Monitor Duty, this conversation is over."

Diana huffed at Batman's dismissal of her concerns. She stormed out of the Monitor Womb in the direction of nowhere in particular. She needed some time to cool down before she'd be able to settle in and get some sleep for the night now. His lack of trust to allow even her to help him against someone that had come so very close to taking his life angered her to no end, but why? As she paced through the various corridors of the Watchtower she thought back to how things had been just two short years ago. Back then she hadn't thought very much of Batman or what he even brought to the table aside from his arrogance. Then she'd met another part of him in Bruce Wayne, even though at the time she didn't realize Bruce and Batman were one in the same. He'd done well in hiding the two at first, but that was until Bane had left him critically injured. By then he'd also shown her that Batman was much more than just an arrogant mortal man, but still came off as a combination of pompous and pretentious in her opinion. It wasn't until she'd come to terms with the secret that he'd kept from her where her respect and appreciation for Batman grew. She'd already liked Bruce as he seemed so very different towards her than the tabloids had portrayed him as being.

It was when that a thought came to her, and she'd realized she hadn't been with Bruce as anything other than Batman at all in the last year. Before his injury, they had been planning on spending some time together on horseback around the Manor grounds before ending the day with a picnic. After her dream, she'd been almost frightened to allow herself to get in that type of situation where it was just the two of them in a non training setting. She hadn't been sure of herself until after her multiple trips back to Themyscira for her self imposed training of her mental strength. Until now, the thought of getting together for what Bruce and she'd been planning simply had not crossed her mind.

Now Diana wondered if that was something that had been on Bruce's mind all this time. They hadn't really discussed much about her discovery over him hiding his secret identity from her while she had built relationships with both sides of the coin that is Bruce Wayne and Batman. She recalled how when she'd demanded an explanation that Bruce said how he didn't know why he'd continued seeing her as Bruce Wayne when he did admit that anything after the Charity gala was not his initial intention. When he told her then that he didn't know why he'd continued seeing her as Bruce, she saw from the look in his eyes that he was being honest with her. He really didn't know why, but he kept calling her, finding ways to see her in that setting of Bruce and Diana instead of just Batman and Wonder Woman like it'd been the first year they'd known each other. She came to a stop from wandering throughout the corridors and found that she was standing in front of a door. Glancing at the code on the wall told her that she'd returned to the very place where she began to wander around aimlessly to begin with. With a deep steadying breath, she readied herself for what she believed would be a conversation more along the lines of a battle of wits. Especially with all the time that had passed, giving Bruce ample opportunity to prepare himself should he have thought it possible that she'd approach him about this topic in any way.

Diana placed her hand on the entry access panel, and the doors slid open admitting her access, but also informing Batman of her presence. She walked into the Monitor Womb and saw Batman typing in various commands on the console as he scanned the numerous screens. Batman always seemed to be the busiest individual when on Monitor Duty. Most everyone else spent their time casually watching and waiting while others like the Flash always had something such as a deck of playing cards to keep his mind occupied. Sometimes she wanted to sneak up on him just to see if he was actually busy working or if perhaps he'd been playing a video game instead, but always shut it down before any witnesses could steal a peek. This wasn't one of those times though as she was certain he heard the swoosh of the doors, and while she wasn't stomping, there was still a soft click of her heels as she approached. "Forget something princess?" Batman asked before she even got up close to him.

"Actually yes, I believe I have forgotten something." She replied. "In fact it's something that seemed to have slipped my mind for quite some time now."

Batman didn't move in any direction to indicate that he was actually listening to what she had to say, but then again she knew who she was dealing with and thusly knew better than to believe that for one second he wasn't listening intently. Instead she continued walking up to him until she reached the console of the monitors and took over the controls for a few moments as she typed in a few commands. When she was finished, she turned and leaned against the console so that she was now facing him. He stared seemingly blankly at her with the lenses of the cowl revealing nothing. "Need to discuss something in private?" He asked.

"Yes." She answered simply with a small smile on her face.

"You've already shut down the audio recording in the Monitor Womb." Batman commented. "What's so important?"

"It's about you." She answered, and saw the tell tale signs of him readying the Bat inside for any conflict that would require his attention. "No, no, it's not about Batman. It's about you, Bruce." She said quietly as she placed a hand on his chest to emphasize her point. "After that night, when I discovered that Batman and Bruce Wayne were one in the same, and when you healed, I realized that we never did get back to the plans that we'd agreed upon. I know that I was angry with you at first, but enough time's gone by now that I've long since forgiven any betrayal that I felt, and still yet neither of us has attempted to finish what we started."

"It's alright princess." Batman responded. "There's no need to feel obligated to such a thing. We both know how busy our lives have been, and stepping back after what Ra's tried to do seems to have given us both an opportunity to reassess our missions."

"So it wasn't that you weren't attempting contact to me as Bruce to continue with our friendship outside of the League?" Diana questioned.

"Bruce Wayne is the type of person that doesn't typically take no for an answer, at least not the first time." Batman explained. "Even dealing with an angry Amazon wouldn't have stopped him from trying to reach out again."

"Oh." Diana replied in a more somber tone. Batman knew that he'd hurt her with his words. It was easily detected from the look on her face. He instantly felt bad about that even though he knew it was for the best. He was well aware of her leaving for Themyscira on numerous occasions for some type of training, and he'd trained his mind during that time as well. He had to build himself up so that he wouldn't try reaching out to Diana again. He didn't want to hurt her anymore than he already had. Even though his words stung just now, it would be like a small prick of a needle compared to what would happen if he allowed her to get any closer.

Still though, as Diana turned to walk out of the Monitor Womb, Bruce didn't want to see her hurt at all from him, even slightly. Before he knew it, he was on his feet and chasing after her. "Diana wait…please." He blurted out, causing her to turn and face him once again. "That doesn't mean that I don't still want for us to remain friends Princess."

Diana didn't know how to respond to that. First he'd basically said that Bruce wasn't interested enough to put forth the effort of calling her, and then he says that he still wants to remain friends. And she was taken by surprise from what he was doing at that very moment as Bruce leaned in closer and closer to her. All her thoughts about her dream came rushing to her at that moment, and she instantly became afraid of what was about to happen. She found though that she couldn't seem to move as his lips came ever closer. She then felt a gloved hand gently grab her by the chin as he turned her head ever so slightly and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Happy New Year." He said before standing up straight once again, and turning to return to the Monitors he'd left unattended.

Diana stood there in shock. The Batman had kissed her. Albeit on the cheek, but still he'd kissed her. It took a few moments to find her voice, but when she did she needed to know. "What was that for?"

"Typically it's done at the stroke of midnight on New Years, and not on the cheek." Batman explained. "I thought I'd show you that I was serious about wanting to remain friends. I've grown to trust you Princess, and that's not something that's easily accomplished with me. I'd hate to lose that with you."

"Oh." Diana responded, but this time it wasn't of disappointment. Rather it was a tone of understanding and acceptance. Friendship built on trust was perfect. There'd be no need to worry herself about the dream, and she'd already found that there were some men on this planet worthy of friendship to an Amazon. She was still slightly shocked by the gesture though, and turned to leave without saying another word.

~~ North Africa ~~

The expedition had been going on for days now with very little in the way of progress to keep everyone with a positive attitude. Arnold's interns had been somewhat helpful, but one had stood out among the three. John Samuelson remained eager and energetic no matter the progress or lack thereof that had been made. John seemed relentless in this pursuit as he was always the first one up to begin the day, and the last one to return. Usually he was begging to continue on in the search so it wasn't surprising when John was the one to discover a faded symbol of the All Seeing Eye stamped onto a pillar underneath one of the buildings they'd been searching through. All around the pillar, there was nothing else to indicate a map or a clue as to where to look next. So instead they focused their efforts on the pillar itself. It took a few hours, but eventually they located a band that was strapped around near the top. It took some effort, but they were able to remove the band, and underneath it was the payoff they'd been looking for. They soon came to find that the massive pillar was hollowed out on the inside and filled with bags. As John had been the one to locate the symbol, Arnold chose to reward the young man by permitting him to look inside first. The opening was just large enough that a grown man could crawl through, and there were grooves cut into the inside wall of the pillar that John figured was designed as a makeshift ladder. Still though he chose to tether himself in the event that he were to slip and fall. He came to a stop about half way down as the bags had been filled to that point. Using a flashlight to see, John opened up the first sack to find that it was filled with gold bullion. Also in that first bag was a rectangular piece of gold that contained what appeared to be inscriptions on it that included the All Seeing Eye. He tied the bag back up and untied the tether from himself before tying the top three bags to it and instructing his co-workers to heave the bags out.

Arnold was the first to open the bags outside of the pillar as the rest went back to work on retrieving the rest of what had been stashed away. In total there were twenty-three bags that were hoisted out before they pulled John back out to join the group. Arnold and the second intern, Chrissie Levenson were both working diligently as they inventoried every single piece that was removed from the bags. They'd gotten through the first four when John rejoined them and helped speed the process. With all the pieces of bullion, it took them a few more hours, and by the time they'd finished, they had counted 690 pieces of the rectangular shapes chunks of gold the size of a dollar bill that had been cut in half. The bullion may have taken the longest to inventory, but it certainly wasn't what had piqued all of their interests. That happened to be what appeared to be a large eye shaped medallion made of gold and silver. The craftsmanship of this circled piece seemed to be unparalleled for someone of that time to have forged. If not for the manner in which they'd found the medallion, one could've easily made the case that it was something created by machinery in recent times rather than back before the Roman Empire controlled the lands.

A celebration was had in honor of the impressive find. Just the bullion itself was enough to make the entire team rich beyond their wildest dreams, and that was enough for the guides and workers that had done much of the hard labor to be happy. After hours of celebrating mixed with the dehydration of working in the desert conditions, the workers all passed out, anticipation palpable as they awaited the new day and possibility of even more riches to be discovered. Arnold, Chrissie and John were still working, but also had become somewhat lost in the celebration as they felt that they'd become so close to succeeding in locating the Triangle of Light. The research they'd performed gave them every indication that this was the All Seeing Eye. The only question was the next clue to follow. Arnold had been working diligently on translating the symbols when John returned to them, carrying three bottles of wine with him. He passed Chrissie and Arnold each a bottle of their own before taking a generous gulp from his own bottle. "Any luck Dr. Perkins?" John asked.

Arnold remained quiet for a few moments, seemingly too engrossed in his research to have heard the question asked of him. John opened his mouth to ask again, but stopped when Arnold's head snapped up. "I've just completed the translation." He said as John and Cassie scooted closer in a manner that looked like children scooting closer to a campfire in anticipation of a ghost story about to be told. "If I've translated accurately the inscription says _the wearer of the Triangle of Light will possess great power, the power of time spent._"

"Is there anything about where to find the Triangle of Light?" Cassie asked.

Arnold flipped the rectangular piece over looking for more inscriptions to be read from it, but found none. "None as of yet." He answered. "But we'll return to the dig site in the morning and have a better look at the inside of that pillar. There could be more inscriptions to be found in there that will tell us what we need to know." Arnold then stretched to ease the soreness from his back before holding his bottle out. "Cheers!"

They all clanked their bottles together before each took a large swig of wine and began discussing the future of their find. Before long each of them was well under the effects of the large amount of alcohol they'd consumed, and decided to call it a night; going to their separate tents. Within a couple hours the whole campsite had fallen asleep or passed out from celebrating, but John woke up in the middle of the night so that he could relieve some pressure that'd built up in his bladder. When he was walking back to his tent, he couldn't help but to stop and look at the two pieces that Cassie, Arnold, and he had been researching. He sat down and picked up each piece individually in his hands, looking over them both with the help of the still burning fire for anything that could possibly help them. He ran his finger along a groove that had apparently been cut in the rectangular piece above the inscriptions when he decided to hold the All Seeing Eye in front of it. The light from the fire seemed to shine off the back of the medallion, hitting the rectangular piece. Suddenly, where the groove was slid open more widely. John noticed it was the same rounded shape as the bottom of the Eye, so he pressed the two pieces together. They fit perfectly together, and it was then that two sides of the rectangle seemed to break away and open before falling into a straight line. Then a small golden chain shot out of the top of the rectangle. John grabbed the chain and gave a gentle tug to see that it not only raised up above the All Seeing Eye, but also it was attached to more inside that slid outward as he continued to pull up until they locked into place, forming a perfect triangle.

John then thought back to what he'd listened to as Dr. Perkins had translated the inscription. "The _wearer _of the Triangle of Light will possess great power, the power of time spent." He wondered if the chain was how a person was supposed to wear the Triangle of Light, and to test this out, he slowly placed it over his head and around his neck.

"What are you doing?" Arnold yelled as he witnessed John just after releasing the chain from around his neck. Upon hearing Dr. Perkins yelling, he jumped to his feet, stumbling backwards a few steps. Recognizing who it was that had yelled at him brought a few thoughts to him. He was only curious, but clearly based on the tone of voice Dr. Perkins had used, it was very likely that he was going to be fired and removed from the camp. If only there were some way to prevent this from happening. If only he could've known about this and kept the rectangle piece that had turned out to be the triangle. He felt so stupid for letting his curiosity get the better of him. It was then that a flash of light came out from the triangle around his neck, and the next thing he knew, he was standing behind where he'd been sitting before Arnold had caught him. It was then that he saw _himself_ walk up to that spot and sit down.

What was happening? Was this some sort of outer body experience? He looked down to see that the artifact was still around his neck even though the sitting version of himself was messing with the two pieces as they were still separated. He had to think about what he'd just experienced. It appeared that he was seeing the past happen right before his very eyes, but how was that possible? How could he have moved back in time? Then it donned on him. The inscription. _The wearer of the Triangle of Light will possess great power, the power of time spent. _It appeared that the Triangle of Light had the capacity to allow its wearer to travel back in time, or time that had already been spent. How did he control it though? Why had it taken him back to this specific time? He thought back to the point when he first traveled and what happened up until that point. He'd become the wearer by slipping it over his head and then Dr. Perkins spotted him. His excitement over this discovery made him realize that only a couple minutes of time wasn't enough to truly understand what was possible with this power. If only he would've pulled both items from the bags while he was inside the pillar. They were small enough that he could've gotten them out unnoticed. The rectangle was in the first bag, and he only needed to locate the eye. If he did that then he'd have all the time in the world to research the power this Triangle of Light possessed. It was then that the medallion lit up around his neck once again, and he was back at the campsite just before dawn when they'd first discovered the passage to the pillar. He had enough time to change everything and grant himself the time necessary to keep the artifacts and test its capabilities on a more detailed scale.

John went directly over to where he'd been that morning. He had five minutes before the rest of the crew would join him. Fortunately the past version of himself was far enough away that he didn't need to worry about the startling jolt he'd be applying to himself. He didn't waste time mincing words either, and instead simply walked up in front of the past version of himself. As expected the past version was startled but for some reason hadn't screamed. "John, I need you to listen because we don't have much time. You're going to find this." He said as he held up the Triangle of Light. "But in the end you'll never be a part of this discovery if you don't listen to me now. There's a large pillar inside, I need you to locate it and bring it to Dr. Perkins' attention. He'll volunteer you to enter. Inside you'll find bags of gold and two separate pieces. In the first bag will be the rectangle. I need you to keep it from being seen and then find the All Seeing Eye in one of the other bags. Make sure you secure both pieces."

"What if this is a trick?" The past John asked.

"Here's how you tell." The future John responded. "Do as I ask and get those pieces. Keep them with you until all the bullion is counted. There will be 690 pieces. If you get that number, then I need you to stay sober, slip out of the camp and build a fire for light. Hold the Eye above the groove on the rectangle in front of the fire and join the two pieces together. Remember that the wearer of the Triangle of Light will possess great power, the power of time spent. In the meantime I'll figure out how to return to the present time and we'll be able to have all the time needed to research this power of traveling through time."

With that all said, he'd done everything he could. Now it was up to him to find his way back to the present. As that had also been time spent, he figured there had to be a way to get back to the present time, and he had to find a way back otherwise this power would be limited to waiting and it would do him no good in being able to change anything. Even something simple like getting caught with the artifact around his neck.


	3. Chapter 3: Going Back

A sister saved, and a plan to save others.

Chapter 3: Going Back

* * *

><p>It was an extremely odd feeling for John. After two months in isolation while performing some trial and error tests, he'd finally managed to find a way back to the altered present. While in isolation he didn't want to know what was happening around him so he refrained from any form of outside contact. He knew that he'd succeeded in returning to the actual present time though as he could feel his thoughts transitioning to reflect the directions that he'd told his past tense self to make. He was relieved upon the feeling of those memories being added to his mind. It was a pleasant surprise though that he was still able to keep his original memories as well. He wondered if in more time that they would simply be overwritten by the changes that he'd left instructions for. As he waited for his memories to clear, he remained seated on the bed in a hotel room, the medallion in his hands resting on his lap.<p>

The odd sensation that John felt was when his body seemed to merge with his past self upon falling back together in the present time. It made him feel queasy and lightheaded at first. If he could've stood, he would have likely visited the restroom for an unwanted session with his head hanging above the toilet seat. Eventually though the sick feeling subsided and the lightheadedness dissipated to where he could once again focus on what he'd missed. He thought hard about it for a time until a memory came to him. In this memory he was in a store purchasing a journal. Perhaps his past self had kept an account of everything that he'd done just in case it was needed. The journal was easy enough to locate, and sure enough there was a detailed account of everything that had taken place since he'd met with himself. He'd learned that the expedition went on in search for the Triangle of Light, but had yet to find it. His past self had worked up until there were seemed to be no more evidence passed the pillar before finding a reason to drop out of the hunt. They hadn't even located any more of the bullion to keep the team motivated.

With less and less new information to go off of, eventually some of the team became frustrated and wanted to return to the pillar site. Arnold eventually relented as he had to admit finding nothing but dead ends after quite some time. He decided also to split up the findings so as to keep the team motivated, but upon receiving their portion of the finding, some still departed. It was at that time where John chose to break off and return to his life, stating that he had loans in need of payment that couldn't wait any longer. With a valid reason in place, he was given his share and left to return home. Although he instead paid for a hotel and began keeping his journal from that point, waiting until his future self returned.

John took a few hours to read through everything, wanting to be certain that he was aware any relevant detail before venturing back out into the world again. Once he was comfortable that he'd caught up with everything, his focus returned to the medallion and its powers. Having the knowledge that he could return to his own time, he wondered just what could he do with this power? Were there changes that he could make to the world for its betterment? A greedy man would go back and start enhancing their wealth with betting, stock exchange information, or altering their own spending choices that turned out to be bad decisions. That would certainly not be acceptable he'd decided. Instead his mind went back to a memory, a memory of pain.

~~ 20 years ago ~~

A little girl was following her older brother in the middle of winter to a pond so that they could go ice skating. The girl loved skating, and had to wait constantly because her parents couldn't afford to go to ice rinks very often. So when the weather was cold enough, she was always anxious to lace up her skates and head to the pond with her older brother. He was always her protector whenever their parents weren't around because of working to make sure bills were paid and food was on the table. On this day, she woke her brother up in the morning; she was already fully clothed and ready to head out when she jumped on his bed. "Go away Sarah." He muffled into the pillow he'd covered his face with to block out the light.

"I need you to come with me so I can go skating." She responded. "Please."

"Can't it wait til tomorrow?" He asked.

"You said that yesterday." She complained. "And the day before. You promised this time."

"Okay, okay." He conceded. "Just give me five minutes to get dressed."

The little girl squealed in joy as she jumped off the bed and headed to the front door of the house. She waited, watching the clock as it ticked slowly towards the five minutes her brother had asked for. After the sixth minute had passed, finally he came down the hallway with his jacket on, ready to take his little sister out. They'd only been out for fifteen minutes when it happened. He turned his attention to some of the children his age that were playing football in the field next to the pond. It was then that he heard the scream, a scream that would haunt him for the rest of his life. "JOHNNY!" His sister yelled as the ice around her gave way to her weight, causing her to plummet into the pond.

"SARAH!" John yelled as he sprinted onto the pond before his friends managed to catch up to him. "Sarah needs help! Help her!"

The adults that had been there with their children went onto the pond and worked their way to where the girl had fallen in, but with the increased weight, the man that was closest broke through the ice as well. He struggled still, trying to save that little girl, but eventually the effort to get him out took precedent as the girl had disappeared from the surface of the ice, lost forever.

If only John had gone out with his sister like he'd always done before. He could've done something, anything to have saved her. She was gone though, and no amount of wishing or wanting would be bringing her back to him. His parents would be devastated. They worked so hard and so much just so that they could give their children everything that they wanted, and now they'd lost one.

John always felt guilt, even if it was misplaced. He believed that his parents secretly blamed him for what happened on that fateful day, and as a result of that he slowly disconnected from them. It made him believe that Sarah was the glue that had kept the family together, and now that she was gone they were all crumbling apart. If only he could change what happened that one cruel day.

~~ Present time ~~

Sarah. That was it! John would return to the past and save Sarah from that cruel fate. She would live, and he'd see to it. He thought back to that day growing up after placing the medallion back around his neck. The date was a memory etched into his brain forever. It wasn't hard at all to recollect the when and the where. The power of time spent, he thought to himself again, and it was then that the medallion began to emit the bright light again. Everything around him once again disappeared and the next thing that he saw was a winter day with a frozen pond. It was early in the morning, and that would give him enough time to gather the supplies he needed. Before leaving the present time, he'd decided to change as little as possible. Therefore he would wait until Sarah fell through the ice, but he would be there to save her this time. This time he was going to be ready. He went over to the old hardware store that his dad had taken him to many times growing up. There he purchased a rope that would work out nicely and a pair of Carhartts to keep himself relatively warm. Once that was done, he returned to the pond and picked a tree nearby to use as an anchor. He tied one end of the rope around the base of the tree followed by the other end around his waist. He then hid from view in the trees picking one that would work nicely to sit and lean against. From that point it was just a matter of waiting for Sarah to arrive.

John watched and waited as children began to arrive around the pond and into the field. It wasn't long before the football game that he'd been so interested in joining as a young boy started up. He knew it wouldn't be long at that point, and sure enough just over a small hill, Sarah came running toward the pond. She wasted little time in getting into her skates and onto the ice, and he watched her as she skated across the ice with such grace and seemingly no effort whatsoever. He didn't realize just how much he'd missed seeing his sister alive and well until now. After watching her for just a few minutes, he saw that she began to head over to that fateful spot from so long ago in his memory. Sure enough just as he recalled it, she fell through the ice quickly while screaming his name. That snapped him out of his reverie and into action. He sprinted out onto the pond. Using his memory, he jumped out at about the same distance away that he recalled the originally seeing the man that had fallen in when trying to save Sarah before. He landed back on the ice and slid for a moment before he too broke through, but he was much closer to his sister. She was at the point of losing her battle to survive when he finally managed to grab hold of her, and pulled her back up above the ice. He used the rope to bring them both back onto land, and once he had them off of the ice he checked on his sister's weakening pulse. It was then that the other adults started showing up to help. They stripped off the outer layers of clothing, and began draping dry clothing from themselves over Sarah as John looked on. His past self was right there by that time as well, looking on in absolute fear while profusely apologizing for not being there.

Sarah was shivering intensely, but was still responsive and that was enough to warm John's heart. He'd done it. He'd saved his little sister's life, but it was then that he felt hypothermia beginning to take its toll on his own body as well before he collapsed onto his backside, and it was then that some of the crowd broke off to attend to the hero of the day for this innocent little girl. Soon an ambulance arrived and the EMT's took over the efforts of the people. They used blankets on the ambulance to wrap around both Sarah and John before loading them into the back and taking off for the hospital. It was at some point then that John fell unconscious.

~~ Present time ~~

The Javelin was just entering space on its way back to the Watchtower. There'd been a mission with Giganta and Grodd outside Metropolis and the Justice League's help was requested by the local law enforcement. Flash was piloting the Javelin back while Wonder Woman was in the back tending to a wound Batman had suffered at the hands of the brilliant ape. "You were just being foolish." She reprimanded him. "Or being stubborn. I don't know which, but either way you shouldn't have done that."

"I saw him taking aim at you from behind." Batman argued. "Flash was down and I made a choice."

"I could've taken the shot Batman." Diana fired back as she wrapped some gauze around Batman's uncovered upper arm. "You don't need to worry about my safety in situations like that. It wasn't life threatening."

"Hind sight's twenty-twenty Princess." Batman responded. "We didn't know until after that the weapon was damaged enough that it wouldn't have killed you. It was a risk I wasn't willing to take. I…I mean the world needs you Diana."

Diana heard what Bruce started to say before pausing and changing what it was going to be. Although she wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say, the slip caused certain thoughts to pop back into her mind. Then she became acutely aware of how her fingers were grazing his skin while she finished wrapping his arm. She began to wonder if he actually meant what he'd said regarding not worrying about the proposed plans between Bruce and Diana going horseback riding together around the Manor grounds. She tried looking into the lenses of the cowl, wanting so much to be able to see the eyes behind it so that she could try to read him better, but that wasn't meant to be. Batman realized that she'd been looking at him for a touch too long and moved to get off the medical bed in the Javelin. Just about that time was when Flash called back that they were entering the landing bay of the Watchtower, and just as soon as the exit ramp had opened Batman was gone without a trace. By the time Diana could catch up to confront him about his Freudian slip of the tongue, he'd already teleported away to what was very likely the confines of the Batcave.

Even though Diana was sure that he was trying to hide it, Batman's abrupt departure without a word to anyone at all gave her an inclination that there was indeed something inside that he was hiding. She had a feeling that it had to do with being around her, and the only question on her mind was if it was a good thing or not. She had to admit that she was frightened by the dream she'd experienced, but there was still something inside that told her she needed to investigate just what it was that was actually between her and Bruce. As the days began to pass, that something was only growing stronger and stronger no matter what she did and she could feel it as it grew.

~~ Back in the past ~~

John woke up to find himself in a hospital bed. The grips of hypothermia must have latched onto him a bit stronger than he'd anticipated. He shot up from his bed, wanting to know just how his little sister was doing. He needed to know that she was safe. As he swung his feet over the side of the bed however, he was stopped in his tracks by the sound of the doctor coming through the door to his room. "It's good to see you up and about." The doctor said as he entered the room. "Although I do ask that you stay in your bed for a little while longer so that we can properly check you out."

"The little girl…." John started. "Is she…?" He couldn't bring himself to ask the question. If he allowed his hope to get too high, he just wasn't sure he could go on with the disappointment a second time.

"She's going to be fine." The doctor replied. "She was very lucky you were there today. You're a real hero."

"A…hero?" John questioningly said as the doctor began checking over his vitals.

"Sure." The doctor responded as he continued on with the examination. "Although I'm sure her family would like to know the name of little Sarah's savior. John Doe just doesn't seem appropriate."

"My….my name's John." John started before his thoughts began to come back in full force. He couldn't give his real name, or there'd be a whole new set of questions to answer and it likely wouldn't come from doctors or happy family members. In fact he couldn't let Sarah or the rest of the family see him. He had to get out of there and quickly. "Where…..are all my things?"

"Your clothes were cut off while being transported here." The doctor answered. You didn't have much else other than an odd looking necklace. We put it in this cabinet for safe keeping. It looked to be quite old." The doctor pointed over to a cabinet while he responded before jotting some notes down on the medical chart. "You didn't have anything else though. No wallet or any form of identification. We'll have to have you fill out some information like your medical coverage, but it's all just standard stuff really."

The doctor placed the medical chart in the tray at the end of John's bed when he was finished. "I'll have the nurse come in with all the paperwork we'll need you to fill out." The doctor explained. "In the meantime, is there anyone that you want us to contact? A wife or another member of your family?" John shook his head no in response, and with that the doctor left his room.

No sooner than once the door closed, John was up on his feet and over to the cabinet that contained the Triangle of Light. He slipped out into the hallway, wanting to take just one more look at his sister. It took him some time, but eventually he came across the door to Sarah's room. He looked back and forth down the hallway for anyone else, but finding no one. He then held his ear up against the door, listening for anyone that he didn't want to see him. As an adult he held many resemblances to his father, and if his parents were already there then he'd simply have to return to the present time and hope that his sister did survive the fall into the icy water. After a few moments of silence, he decided that it was safe and slowly opened the door before poking his head in. There his sister was, sleeping peacefully in the medical bed. What he was surprised to see though was the teenage version of himself in a chair next to Sarah's bed staring right back at him. That actually surprised him a bit as well as startled him into not moving at all. The young John stood from his chair for a moment before relief became evident on his face. "You...you saved her." He blurted out. "Th…thank you."

"You don't have to thank me." The adult John responded. "I…I know how important a sister is. I'd do it again."

"Who are you sir?" Young John asked. "You look really familiar."

"John…" The adult John started, which startled the boy since he never gave his name. "I don't know how to tell you this in a manner that you'd believe. In the future…when you grow up…you'll have the chance to do something very important. It could be life and death. I…" John paused to think. Just how much should he tell his younger self? Would the teenage version of himself even believe any of it?

"What would I do that could be life and death?" The teenager asked.

"In the future… you're going to meet me again." John answered as he pulled the Triangle of Light out and showed it to his teenage version. "I'll look exactly the same, and I'll show this to you. I need you to listen to me then because then you'll be better prepared for what I have to tell you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" The teen asked with a lot of confusion and distrust evident in his voice.

"Just trust me." John cryptically answered before starting to make his exit. "I have to go now, but I'll see you again. All you have to do is take what I have to share with you seriously. Take care of Sarah."

John wasted no time whatsoever in slipping away before the past version of himself could make it to the door and attempt to follow. He knew that teenage John wouldn't venture far from his sister after what'd happened, so he quickly turned down another hallway and ducked into a room with an open door that he figured would be safe. This room was busier and seemingly frantic, and he had to use a curtain to hide himself from plain sight. There were nurses running around prepping the room, and they were too busy to notice who was around them to notice John hiding behind a curtain. He couldn't help but to overhear the conversation the nurses were having as they worked. "Who's coming in Suzy, the president?" One nurse asked the other.

"No Jan, I was told that the Wayne's were shot outside of Park Row Theatre. Suzie answered as she continued laying out the tools that might be needed for surgery.

"Oh dear lord." Jan gasped. "That's terrible. Dr. Wayne and his wife were always so kind when they came in here. I hope everything's…."

"Jan, Suzy, there's no rush on the room now." A doctor dejectedly said from the doorway of the room.

"What happened?" Suzy asked.

"They didn't make it." The doctor replied solemnly. "The EMT's called it. Both Thomas and Martha were DOA I'm afraid."

The nurses were shocked by the news and continued to chat about what the Wayne's meant to the hospital, but before long duty called and they were needed elsewhere, leaving John alone in the room. He waited for a few minutes before coming out from behind the curtain and closing the door to the room so that he could begin the process of returning to the present time. He again focused his thoughts on returning to what was now an uncertain time for him. When the light began to emanate from the artifact, unlike last time John could now feel himself being pulled through time. He could see images as new memories when they began to pop into his mind. Thoughts of being places such as attending his sister's high school graduation and taking her to her college dorm when she started her freshman year of college. She was attending a different college than he had, but still was following in the family interest of archaeology. He knew though that he had one more stop to make. If he didn't revisit himself once again when the opportunity to travel to North Africa came, then he may never come in contact with the Triangle of Light and could potentially stop his trip back to save Sarah from ever happening. He wasn't about to let that happen, and he knew that seeing the adult version of himself would be easier to convince than the teenage version he'd started to explain it to in the hospital. For now he had to push images and memories to the side and focus on his task at hand.

~~ Underworld ~~

Just above the realm of the underworld better known as Tartarus, there lies a divine chamber that housed three sisters that had come to the realization of something that was amiss. Atropos, the cutter of threads was in a heated argument with one of her sisters. Lachesis, known as the measurer looked over a thread that had been returned to her as it held two markings for selection of this mortal life's end. This had never happened before in all their time that the Fates had spun, measured, and cut the threads of life for each mortal in the world. The bickering amongst the sisters had been loud as they pointed fingers at one another in blame for what was the cause of this issue. The ruckus reached a level so loud in fact that it was bringing about unrest in the entire Underworld. This in turn brought about the lord and Olympian God to their door steps. "What is the meaning of this disruptive dispute?" He barked as he entered the room of the three sisters.

"See for yourself Lord Hades." Clotho said as she snatched the thread from Lachesis' hands before handing over to him to view it with his own eyes.

"Why are there two separate markings for this mortal's thread?" He asked after inspecting it.

"That's what the problem is, Lord of the Underworld." Atropos responded. "We've not seen this occur at any time before, and none of us is claiming responsibility. It appears there is meddling taking place outside of our hands."

"This will not do." Hades commented as he took in what the witches explained to him. "It will not do at all. I will take this dilemma before all of Olympus to discover the one responsible. How much more life has this mortal received Lachesis?"

The measurer of threads held it up and measured to the second line from the first carefully, wanting to be absolutely accurate. "It appears that this one has earned a stay of execution for another twenty mortal years."

"Let them live to that point, and be mindful of any other changes in threads." Hades ordered. "Do not wait to inform me of any other changes. I will have to act accordingly if this occurs again."

~~ Present time ~~

John returned after having successfully convincing his adult self to take the Triangle of Light. It took a bit more convincing than he'd initially expected to get him to believe in something that was so very important to his sister's survival. That in itself even with the argument of having all the details of the day still for some reason left doubt in his past tense's opinion. He couldn't afford to have any doubt whatsoever. So to solidify that doubt, he chose to reveal the power before himself as he returned to the present with the past tense version actually witnessing him leave.

John was relieved when he returned to find that there was another journal with accounts of the happenings again to go through. His sister was alive and well, having entered her seventh year of college at Cambridge. He spent the better part of a week remaining isolated as he worked through all the memories that he had to process and organize in his head. He found that this time it was an incredibly difficult task for him to perform. In fact after he finally had a decent grasp of which memories had taken place now versus before he made any changes to the past he decided to stay a little farther away from his own ties. It would be less strenuous on his mind if his sister was the last family member that he helped unless it was extremely recent where not much in the form of memories would change for him. He still felt that saving lives was the right thing to do, especially those that were deserving of their lives being extended, and he wanted to do just that. He'd have to research each person that he selected to save from their own impending doom first though, and he wasted no time in doing just that. He began researching anyone that received a lot of media attention in the beginning. They'd be the easiest to differentiate the good and deserving versus the bad he thought. It would be incredibly time consuming, but with a power that he now possessed, he knew that it would be terrible if it fell into the wrong hands.

While John researched potential candidates to save, he also looked into finding a place secure enough where he could store the Triangle of Light and have no one would think to look for something of value. With the money that he'd received as reward for his part in the recovery of the gold bullion, he bought a few different places, but the one that he chose was an old cabin with a cellar. He spent time there building a false wall and expanding the cellar on his own so that literally no one would know about it. In that room he placed a small vault and set up surveillance that would instantly trigger on from movement or sound, and simultaneously send the video in thirty second clips to a secure website he created. This prevented anyone from removing the media storage in the video devices. They would also fire up every hour and record a thirty second window to report back as a sort of failure testing to ensure the equipment was functioning properly. Once his cabin was up to standards, he deposited the Triangle of Light there in a hidden location, much like it'd been when he discovered it. Inside the safe was a few thousand dollars to hopefully throw off the scent should anyone make an attempt at stealing from him as well.

John got back to the list and he had almost ten separate candidates that he was debating on. The most prominent names on his mind though were Thomas and Martha Wayne. He couldn't shake the conversation he'd overheard from the nurses in the past about how good they had been for the hospital. All of his research on them only verified that the nurses were correct. Martha was incredibly charitable in her own rights and Thomas was not only that, but also a gifted doctor. The only true detractor he found was what he'd learned about with their son. Bruce had grown to become a womanizer and didn't seem to do anything special to make himself known to as a good man, but he was slightly more charitable with his money than his parents had been. Perhaps if Bruce hadn't lost his parents at such a young age, he could've done something more with his life to continue the legacy his parents had started to build up before their murders took place.

The murders of Thomas and Martha was another thing that John had to study. He needed to know everything there was to know about the alley that night. He was by no means a crime fighter, and if he were to be killed, then the power of the Triangle of Light would be lost forever or worse, used for nefarious means. He read over the entire police report from that crime, learned where this Joe Chill was at the time of the event, as well as where the victims were, time of death, and every other piece of information that he thought would be beneficial or needed. Next on his agenda was that he needed to hide his appearance from anyone. He didn't want someone to trail anything back to his family at all. So he went about designing a costume with tactical gear from surplus stores and a ski mask. Everything was in black to better obscure him from sight. Surprise would be paramount to his success, and once his plan was fully laid out, he decided it was time to act. It was time to save Thomas and Martha Wayne.


	4. Chapter 4: Making Changes To Everything

Our time traveler expands on his quest to better the world and a champion is called upon to restore order.

Chapter 4: Making Changes To Everything

* * *

><p>The alley was dark and cool as a winter breeze blew through the streets of Gotham. Not quite cold enough for snow, yet that wind had the ability to seemingly pierce right through clothes and skin down to the bone. John thought about how fortunate he was on the selection of a ski mask to cover his facial features from anyone. He also didn't realize just how numb he'd been on the day that his sister was lost. While that morning had been around the freezing temperature, as the day moved along, it warmed up into the mid forties. As night fell upon the city though, the temperature followed along as it begin to plummet back down once again.<p>

Being here on this night had given John another glimpse into just how long he'd been out of it when he initially went back in time to save her. Then again if he'd have simply taken the time to peek out a window of the hospital, he'd have seen that the entire day had been lost to him thanks to hypothermia. It also explained how he easily he could move around without being noticed. It was when the nightshift staff had been at the hospital, meaning there weren't many people among the non medical staff there. Visiting hours had long since passed, janitors were off duty for the most part, and the nightlife of Gotham City always took up the majority of the medical staff's attention. In thinking back to that night, he was surprised that the hospital could pull two nurses to prep the room for the Wayne's in the first place. That line of thought brought him to the realization that not only would he be saving the Wayne's, but also he'd be freeing up the medical staff so that they could better focus on the other patients in need of assistance. What he was doing was indeed a good thing, better than he even initially realized. He wasn't sure just how great an effect his actions could have, but the potential for great things was right there in his grasp.

To help pass the time, John brought with him photographs of Thomas and Martha Wayne, as well as the man that had been eventually caught and convicted of the murders, Joe Chill. When there was less than an hour left until the suspected time of death, John made sure that he was as prepared as possible. He scouted out the entire alleyway where the crime was going to take place as well as traced the path that the Wayne's were going to take from the movie theatre to that point. He knew that as just a man, he couldn't simply follow the Wayne's and pounce when Chill showed. Instead he had to focus on where Chill was and follow him. It took quite a bit of searching, but eventually he was successful in locating the soon to be murderer.

John made certain to use the dark color of his tactical gear to stay hidden in the shadows as Chill wandered around. It was plain to see just how desperate this man had been. He looked like he rarely was afforded a decent meal and certainly not a steady and secure place to live. Had he not known just what this man was capable of, he might've found that he almost felt sorry for Chill. But he was acutely aware of not only what Chill was capable of, but of what he was about to do and that couldn't be permitted. The Wayne's were too good of a quality people to be taken from the world when they held such potential to help out the world by continuing to be in it. John would stop this heinous act from happening, he just knew it. He was looking to time his move exactly right. He wanted to allow the confrontation, but then to immediately stop it before it could escalate. This way the Wayne's would all realize the danger that even they might place themselves in if they weren't diligent with their surroundings. He then looked to his watch and pulled out his weapon of choice. It was 10:30, and the Wayne's would be exiting the movie theatre at any moment.

~~ Outskirts of Olympus ~~

Hades was storming away from the Mount of Olympus. Those other pompous gods and goddesses had dismissed the question from the Fates that he had brought up to them. One miscalculation wouldn't result in them taking any action, they'd said. Fools. The lot of them. So full of themselves and their divine powers, they were at times blinded by the happenings within man's world. In the countless decades upon decades, never once had the Fates miscalculated on the length of a mortal's thread of life. Something was amiss and it appeared that only Hades could see it. Not even Ares, who thrived on conflict and murder, was able to be swayed. They would all regret this day.

Hades remained silent as he traveled by chariot back to his realm of the Underworld. He never was able to leave for long periods of time. If he did, then the lands would certainly fall into chaos and discord. He simply would not permit that in his realm. Unfortunately for him though, upon returning to his palace he was met immediately by some of his underlings. "My Lord." One of the creatures called out. "The Fates have requested your attention sire."

"Has there been more examples of mortals outliving their scheduled deaths?" Hades asked as he dismounted and began marching in the direction of the Fates.

"That is what they've indicated sire." The creature answered.

When Hades reached the chamber of the Fates; he burst through the door leaving his minions behind in his wake. "Lachesis." He called out. "How many more mortals have received an unwarranted stay of execution?"

"Two my lord." Lachesis called out. "And I've already seen a third occur as we've awaited your return."

"Who is responsible for this?!" Hades boomed loudly enough so that all of Tartarus could hear. The Fates remained silent in the face of a visibly irate Lord of the Underworld. Hades was virtually seething as he fought to regain his composure. "We must find a means of stopping this from continuing. Perhaps the names of the mortals that have been gifted their stays of execution."

The sister spinner of the threads took each of the three threads and examined them closely. "We know not of the mortals name Lord Hades." She replied. "Only of their life's beginning and projected end."

"Find me something of use." Hades demanded. "I'll see to discovering a means of correcting this as well as confining the one responsible to an incredibly tortured end with an eternal stay in the pits of Tartarus."

~~ Crime Alley ~~

Thomas led his wife and son from the entrance of the movie theatre that evening. It was late and cold, but their son had begged and begged to see this movie, and he'd done more than enough to have earned the privilege of going. Bruce was such an intelligent young man, Thomas thought to himself. His son was intelligent well beyond his years, and as a father he couldn't be more proud to watch as his son was growing up before his eyes. He wasn't sure what it was, but deep inside he just had this feeling that Bruce was destined for great things. He just hoped that his eight year old boy would spend time enjoying being a child before he had no choice but to grow up. Tonight seemed to be one of those times. Bruce loved the movie, and was up just ahead sword fighting an imaginary villain in much the same way that the hero had during the movie. He couldn't help but to allow a smile to grow on his face as he watched. Martha looked up to see the smile on her handsome husband's face, and that was all it took for one to grow on her face as well. She knew that Thomas was watching their son and enjoying getting to see him having fun. Bruce always seemed to want to impress his father, and that made it rare for moments like this where Thomas could see Bruce just being a happy child. Having more free time she was able to see this side of Bruce on a much more frequent occurrence, but that still never took away from the enjoyment she felt at the knowledge they were raising such a happy child. It wasn't until she felt Thomas draping an arm around her that she realized she too had become enthralled from watching Bruce as he played in front of them. However he was getting a little too far ahead of them in the alley as they were heading toward their car. "Bruce." She called out to her son. "Don't get too far ahead of us."

"He'll be fine Martha." Thomas responded. "The car's just around the corner there anyways. Let him have his fun."

At the other end of the alley, Joe Chill saw a punk kid dancing his way up in his direction. The boy had a nice coat on him, and just off behind him was a well manicured woman and a well groomed man that had to be the boy's parents. This was going to be an easy score indeed. He might get lucky and get enough from them to last him the rest of the week. From looking them over quickly, he just knew that they had more than enough to spare what he'd need. It would be quick and clean. The wealthy were easy to scare into submission. All he'd need to do is flash the gun at them and they'd be throwing all their money at him. As they came closer, he rubbed his hands together to get a little feeling back in them from the cold air and then reached into his waistband to pull out his gun.

John knew that the time was now. He watched Joe Chill as he began to scope out his potential targets and slowly move into position to block their way from getting out of the alley. John had to be careful here. He had to be sure that he wasn't heard or seen. He didn't want to startle Chill into doing something stupid or running off. The only thing he was going to change was the fact that Thomas and Martha lived. Everything else had to be the same. So he sat back and watched silently as Chill stepped out from the shadows and began approaching the young boy that had to be Bruce Wayne. Chill kept his hands in his pockets even after he'd been spotted by Bruce who stopped dead in his tracks as his parents quickly closed the gap between them and their son. It wasn't until both parents laid a hand on Bruce's shoulders that Chill finally drew his gun. "Wallet, jewelry, all your valuables." He demanded.

John saw how Thomas attempted to keep everything calm and collected as he tried to inform Chill that they'd do as he wanted, only to accidentally drop his wallet in the process of handing it over. It was then that Chill noticed the pearl necklace that was not being removed from around Martha's neck. "I said jewelry, and that means the pretty pearls." Joe instructed.

Now was the time. "Joe Chill." John called out calmly from the shadow. That was all it took to gain the mugger's attention. As soon as the gun was turned far enough away from the Wayne's, John acted. He fired projectile barbs directly into Chill's chest and then squeezed the trigger on his taser gun, sending a massive amount of voltage into Joe's body. He shook as the electricity coursed through him until John finally released the trigger momentarily. That only allowed his muscles to relax so that he could collapse onto the pavement before he felt the electricity again begin to flow through him and he convulsed uncontrollably until he lost control of his bowels. The pain was incredible, and it seemed to continue even as he felt the electricity cease coursing. All of his muscles still seemed to be seized up, and he knew that he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. His once believed to be easy score had just turned into nothing, and it was because of this stranger that decided to step into his business.

Thomas was quick to pick the gun up so that it was safe from being used against his family. He'd never been mugged before, and the fear it brought to him was unimaginable to say the least. For a moment, he even believed that the mugger might have been thinking of shooting them. Thank goodness for whomever it was that was there to intervene. "Who….who are you?" He asked in the direction of the shadow.

"Leave the mugger enough money for food and some clothes and then be on your way Mr. Wayne." Came the voice in the shadows. "You and your family were all very lucky tonight. Very lucky."

"You're a hero." Thomas responded as he complied, not wanting anything unfortunate to happen after what they'd narrowly avoided. "I'd like to thank you properly for what you did tonight."

"To thank me Mr. Wayne, I just ask that you and your wife continue doing the good things that you've been doing for this city." The voice said. "And be there to raise your son." Once that was said, they could hear the sound of footsteps running away from them. Thomas looked down upon their would be assailant that was still laying on the ground for a moment before he grabbed his family and headed straight for the car. Once they were safely inside, he grabbed his cellular phone and called the police to report the attempted crime. It took a while for the adrenaline to subside and his mind become more clear, but as it did, he recalled that their savior had called their attacker by name. He just had to recall that name so that he could provide it to the police when they arrived because the attacker had his chance to escape up until the police arrived. It was up to him whether he would slink away with the few hundred dollars that they'd left him or not. Hopefully this savior would make that man think twice about trying to mug someone, but if not then the police would know who to go after and arrest.

John ran through a few alleys and streets until he found a spot where he was alone. He'd done it! He'd saved the Wayne's from their deaths, and at the same time he was enjoying the rush of adrenaline as it continued to course through him. There was excitement in experiencing what he'd just done. Aside from some soiled pants, he hadn't affected anything except for the saved lives of Thomas and Martha. It was now up to them to live their lives to the fullest. It took John a full ten minutes to cool down from the rush he'd been feeling, and when it finally subsided he found that he wanted to feel it again and again. With that thought in mind, he pulled out his list of candidates and decided to jump over to the next one right away instead of heading back. His feeling of accomplishment had his confidence growing by the second and he didn't want to wait any longer, so he made certain once again that he was free of any onlookers, focused his thoughts on the next place to jump to and waited until the light of the artifact took him away from the streets of Gotham.

~~ Two hours later ~~

Thomas and Martha were watching their son as he had finally drifted off to sleep. Both knew that the other simply wasn't going to leave their son's room for the rest of the night, and so did their faithful butler Alfred. He took it upon himself to gather some extra pillows and blankets for the couple so that they could be more comfortable in the young man's room. It was a relief to Alfred that all of them had made it back safe and sound to the mansion. He'd established a great relationship with Thomas and held a deep respect for him as a man and father. Alfred also absolutely adored Martha. She seemed to bring a natural light to any room that she walked into, and she was very loving toward her husband and son. Bruce had grown to be a very important part of Alfred's life over the years. The boy held such promise and anyone could see that from just being around him. He had a good head on his shoulders and wonderful parents to look after him. Each of the Wayne's also never treated Alfred as though he were an employee either, but rather as family, and to see any of that taken away would certainly be heartbreaking to say the least. He too stayed behind for a few extra moments as he just watched Thomas and Martha snuggle in to the bed with their son sleeping between them before he finally slipped out of the door to retire for the evening. With all the activity that had been flying around having the police there, it was nice to hear the sound of silence once again.

Alfred's mind was still dancing around all of the happenings though when he laid down and closed his eyes. He couldn't help but to go over everything again. The Wayne's had all rushed into the foyer of the Manor without having taken the car back to the garage. Bruce was clinging to Martha as Thomas made his way over to the phone when Alfred came up to him. "Is everything alright sir?" The faithful butler asked.

"Yes Alfred." Thomas responded quickly as he was dialing the phone. "We just were involved with an attempted mugging that went wrong. The police asked that I call once we returned to the Manor so that they could send a detective over to file the report."

"Oh my word sir." Alfred gasped upon hearing the news. "What of the madam and young Master Bruce? Is there anything that they require?"

"Umm, no Alfred." Thomas started before pausing. "Well, perhaps some tea for Martha would help to calm her down. They're both still fairly shook up over what happened."

Alfred wasted no time in heading to the kitchen where he poured water into a tea kettle before setting it on the stove top. Within minutes, he reemerged from the kitchen with a tray in hand holding the kettle, tea cups with tea bags, and a mug of hot chocolate for Bruce. He set the tray down on a coffee table in front of the three Wayne's before pouring the piping hot water into each tea cup, and adding a cube of sugar to Martha's cup before adding three to Thomas'. He then picked up the mug of hot chocolate and handed it to Bruce. "Here you are young Master Bruce." He said. "Hot chocolate with marsh mellows to warm the appendages on any young boy that comes in from the wintry weather as well as to help cool the nerves."

Thomas smiled faintly upon hearing Alfred's words to help sooth Bruce. It amazed him at times of all the things that this man who carried himself as the most proper of butlers could still show such a warm and caring heart when it was most needed. It was that reason alone why he and Martha had discussed and then amended their wills to have Alfred become Bruce's guardian should something disastrous ever occur to the both of them. He snuck in gathering the tea cups and handed one to Martha while Alfred was busying himself with Bruce. Certainly under normal circumstances he'd almost be slapped on the hand for doing such a thing, but at the moment Bruce was the main concern for all of them, and Alfred had no choice but to let Thomas retrieve his and Martha's tea cups.

It wasn't long before the door bell rang to announce the arrival of the police officers that had been sent out to them, and sure enough Alfred had returned with two detectives following behind him. "Master Thomas." He called out. "Detectives Flass and Gordon have arrived sir."

"Thank you, Alfred." Thomas said as he stood from his seat and approached the detectives before extending a hand to shake. Gordon took it gladly and confidently gave a firm shake before Flass haphazardly bypassed it and approached the rest of Thomas' family.

"So we were told that you were involved in an attempted mugging." Flass said as he inspected the tea kettle by lifting the lid to peek inside.

"Umm, yes detective." Thomas answered. "He was able to get a few hundred dollars from us."

"How were you able to get away with all your jewelry like that pearl necklace around your wife's neck?" Flask asked as he continued pacing slowly around the room. "Unless you decided to put it all on after you got home that is."

"No detective." Martha stated. "We were saved by a stranger."

"A stranger?" Flass questioned. "What'd he do?"

"He had some type of weapon that subdued the mugger." Thomas responded. "I've never seen anything like it."

"And what did this…weapon do exactly?" Detective Gordon asked.

"For lack of a better term, it seemed like it electrocuted him." Thomas explained. "But it wasn't strong enough to kill the mugger. Just enough to subdue him really."

"Anything specific you can tell us about this hero of yours?" Flass asked.

"We never got a good look at him." Bruce chimed in to the surprise of everyone.

"What was that son?" Jim asked.

"We couldn't see him." Bruce reiterated. "It was dark, and he stayed in the shadows. Even after he'd saved us, but I thought heroes were supposed to be celebrated, not have to hide and run away."

"He left before we could even thank him." Thomas added as he came over to Bruce's side while Alfred stood up to gather the now empty cups and mug. "Honestly I almost felt like it was a miracle that he was there to save us. I don't know what would've happened if he hadn't shown up."

"Sounds a little convenient, don't you think Mr. Wayne?" Flass questioned. "That's a nice case of right place, right time it seems."

"Whatever it was, I'm glad he was there." Martha stated.

The detectives continued gathering the details of what had happened and one thing became abundantly clear to the Wayne's. The more that they discussed what had happened, the more it seemed Detective Flass was mostly just interested in their hero rather than the man that had attacked them. Eventually they all just started answering Detective Gordon's questions and only giving Flass one word responses until he became irritated and called for Jim to make their leave. As they approached the door though, the name struck him. "Wait, detectives." Thomas said to halt them. "There's one more thing. I remember hearing the man that saved us saying something to the attacker. I think he knew his name."

"What name?" Gordon asked.

"He got the mugger's attention by saying the name _Joe Chill_." Thomas answered. "After that's when he hit the mugger with his weapon. I don't know if it's the mugger's name or not, but I hope that it will help you."

"Thank you, Mr. Wayne." Gordon said as he wrote down that final detail. "We'll be in touch if we find out anything. Have a good night."

Alfred could only hope that the police would be able to focus on and catch that Mr. Chill before he attempted to rob someone else instead of on the heroic man that had intervened so selflessly on the Wayne's behalf.

~~ Present time ~~

A fist slammed into the metal wall causing it to cave in ever so slightly. Diana released a growl as Batman had once again slipped under her attack. Even though she'd asked for it, she couldn't help herself from becoming frustrated by sparring with Batman. He'd been like fighting a ghost for the most part. She'd had a hard time even landing a glancing blow at times even though she could sense that she'd been getting closer as time moved on. "That was a good counter Princess, but you're still telegraphing what you're doing a little." Batman explained from behind her.

Diana spun around to face Batman head on again and saw that he was already in a defensive stance waiting for her to attack. She'd learned much from the times before when sparring with Bruce to know that when he was in a defensive stance, she had to be especially cautious with each move she made. He would watch her every flinch or adjustment and would move around accordingly until he had her where he wanted and could take her down. In the beginning she instantly would lunge in, but then the battle would come to an abrupt end with her on the ground and him standing over her. Today was going to be different she decided. Instead of attacking she was going to read his body language, and she did just that as they circled around each other. She knew that patience was her Achilles heel, and he'd been exploiting that weakness whenever it would give him the advantage. Not this time though. Now she was looking for an opening to exploit rather that attempting to create one. She switched her pattern of movement back and forth to see how he reacted, and one of those switches was when she spotted her chance. He'd stopped mid step, leaving one foot behind the other for just a moment, but that was all that it took as she lunged forward with a feint to get him off balance. Batman stepped back quickly and attempted to counter with a hook shot, but Diana was ready for it as she caught his arm and yanked back toward her. She'd successfully gotten him off balance enough that he wasn't going to be able to land on his feet, and only had a slim chance to avoid being taken down, but that was dashed as Diana stuck out her leg to further trip him up before she spun around and followed him to the ground.

Diana had Batman pinned and she was mounted in full control position over his hips as she worked to pin down his arms and officially subdue him for the first time without using her powers at all. She even eventually managed to position her arms so that if he attempted to struggle any more, an elbow could be released to smash against the bridge of his nose. Both combatants were breathing heavily from the amount of effort they'd already expended as they stared back into each other's eyes. That was until he caught sight of her licking her lips ever so slightly while fighting to catch her own breath. After a few moments though, she leaned in closer to him until her nose was almost touching against his cowl covered nose. "Submit." She said simply, yet confidently.

Batman felt something strong inside of him that urged him to respond. He fought against that urge, but before he could squash it away, words managed to come out before he could stop himself. "And what if I don't?" He asked in a husky voice that even he'd never heard coming from himself before.

Hearing the tone of Batman's voice at that moment brought all of Diana's thoughts and recollections about her dream with Bruce to the forefront of her thoughts at that very moment. She felt a shiver that was running down her spine. Batman was a colleague and trusted teammate. He'd made it clear that he was more than alright with them being nothing more, even as just Diana and Bruce. But now there was some doubt about just how certain he was. She couldn't help but to wonder if he was trying to remain professional despite perhaps his own feelings. Perhaps he didn't want to go against her Amazon beliefs even though she had to admit that she herself was finding a desire to do so. Maybe he just needed to be shown that she was wanting him to take this action with her. So she inched ever closer to his face and closed her eyes just before their lips were about to meet. She stayed there for a moment as she attempted to collect her composure before closing the remaining distance to find nothing there.

Diana's eyes snapped open wondering just how and why Bruce would've evaded such an intimate moment only to see that he was still there underneath her, but in a sense wasn't at the same time. He was fading away into nothing, and before she knew what was going on, her bottom fell through from where she'd been sitting on top of Bruce to down on the cold floor of the training room. He'd completely disappeared from her view. "Batman!" She yelled, fearful that something awful had just happened to him. "Batman, respond." She quickly ordered through the communicator, hoping to reach him wherever he was. When she received no response, she left the training room and headed directly for the Monitor Womb only to find that the entire Watchtower was slowly beginning to fade away as well. It was then that she was blinded by a flash of light. When she could see again, she quickly realized that she'd been transported to Mount Olympus where all of her Gods and Goddesses were seated before her. She kneeled immediately and bowed out of respect. "What do my Gods and Goddesses require of me?" She asked.

"Diana, we have a mission of great importance for you to take on." Hera informed. "Zeus' brother Hades has discovered that someone is tampering with the lives of mortals, and in doing so, they are also hastening the end of the world."

"Who is this person my queen?" Diana asked.

"We do not know." Hera responded before a ball of flames appeared behind Diana. She turned to see that Hades himself was now in attendance.

"My Diana." Hades started, much to Diana's dismay. "The Fates have had their life threads of mortals tampered with by an outside entity. It will be your requirement to find this enemy and restore the order of man's world. If you don't, then the potential for even Themyscira to fall victim would become likely."

"How do I find this being?" Diana asked before another question came to her. "Would this be the cause of one of my Justice League colleagues disappearing right before my very eyes?"

"We believe so." Apollo answered. "It appears that whoever this being is, they are traveling through time and changing the past. This discovery is only recent as I can now see future being changed in a constant state of flux. There is only one ending for the mortal world however if you do not find this person and stop them. Also, you should know that as of now there is no Justice League for you to return to. The changes made in the past have seen to that."

"Then why is it that I can remember all of them?" Diana asked, pushing for more details.

"We've shielded your memories from the changes so that when balance is restored, you will be able to validate it as such." Athena answered. "If you wish to have your friends brought back to you, then you will take on this mission."

"I will gladly take on this mission as you have requested of me." Diana stated before Aphrodite patted her on the shoulder and motioned for her to rise.

"This will be an incredibly difficult task to complete, even for our champion." The Goddess of love whispered. "When you return, you will see things that might be difficult to handle, but you must complete this mission Diana of Themyscira. It is of the utmost importance. Also know that this mission can only be taken on by you. No one else in the world will be the wiser of the past being changed, even those that had been closest to you up until this point."

"I understand." Diana responded. "Thank you for your council." She then turned to face the rest of the Gods and Goddesses. "I'm ready to be returned to Earth so that I can find and bring this person before you all." With that said, Zeus clapped his hands together loudly, and a thunderous sound was all she could hear before everything in her world went dark.


	5. Chapter 5: A Dance To Remember

Diana begins her mission seeking out the discovery of what's changed from her timeline.

Chapter 5: A Dance To Remember

* * *

><p>Diana stirred slowly before opening her eyes to see that she had been returned to the temple of Athena. That had to mean one thing; she was back home on Themyscira. How had she gotten there though? She sat up slowly rubbing her temples due to some throbbing pain she felt in her head. If she had an iced mocha it would certainly help relieve that discomfort, and that was when it donned on her. She'd been taken from the Watchtower and brought before her Gods and Goddesses on Mount Olympus. They sent her here most likely because it was safe and because they'd told her that the Watchtower wouldn't exist in this changed timeline. Unfortunately for her, she realized that she hadn't dreamt of that. There was still an uneasiness about her as she stood to her feet. It was almost like she was dizzy and couldn't find her center to balance herself. Slowly though that feeling began to dissipate, and for that she was grateful as she began walking toward the doorway of the temple.<p>

The bright sunshine of Themyscira was almost blinding for Diana as she stepped out of Athena's temple only see her mother anxiously awaiting her. Why was she there waiting for her though? How could her mother have known that she was in the temple all this time? There was a litany of questions rattling through her mind as she approached the queen of the Amazons and bowed before her. "Hello mother." Diana said as she stood to her full height. "It's good to see you again."

"You were only gone for but two hours child." Hippolyta responded with a hint of concern and questioning evident in her tone. "You speak as though you've been gone on a long journey."

Diana had to think quickly. Obviously her homeland was also affected by the shift in time, and that could mean a number of things. Perhaps in this timeline she never even left the island to begin with, but she had to weigh in on that later as if she didn't respond soon, her mother would become concerned and possibly confine her to her chambers until Amazon healers could look her over. "Sorry mother." She began. "It felt like days while meeting with all of the Gods and Goddesses on Mount Olympus."

"Follow me back to the throne room and share with me all that our Gods had to say my little sun and stars." Hippolyta replied as she ushered Diana with her arm to follow, and follow the Princess did.

"Well mother, I'm not sure how to say this, so I suppose the best course of action is to just come out with it." Diana explained. "The Gods have decreed that I am to take on a mission of the utmost importance. Although I'm afraid that it requires me to leave the island in search of a menace that has been altering time and affecting the entire world."

"You seem to be delirious my child." Hippolyta countered in a half chuckle. "An Amazon hasn't left this island in thousands of years. Why would our Gods and Goddesses decree such a preposterous notion?"

"Because if not stopped, it has the potential of ending all things in this world, and they do not wish this to come." Diana answered. "I did not imagine this mother or make it up, and I wish that I could go into greater detail, but Aphrodite told me herself that only I would be able to take on this mission as the Gods have protected my mind from any changes that come from this enemy and what they do to the timeline."

"I see." The queen responded slowly as she let this information sink in. Hippolyta knew that Diana had an insatiable hunger for experience of more than what could be offered on their homeland, and she was loathe to permit her only daughter to leave, but Diana had never before used the Gods and Goddesses in her arguments for going beyond the borders of Themyscira. Hippolyta may not have liked the idea of letting her daughter leave, but she also wasn't about to question a decree from Olympus instructing Diana to take on such a mission. "Then perhaps you should be granted the armor of the Amazons before you make your leave my child."

"Thank you for your understanding with this mother." Diana stated in gratitude, knowing that her mother wouldn't fight this any longer because of her desire to not go against the wishes of their patron Gods and Goddesses. "I must leave as soon as possible. I wasn't informed of just how much time I had to defeat this enemy, but I have already seen changes to the timeline and can only guess that it will get worse the longer I take."

Hippolyta summoned her guards to retrieve the Amazon armor from the sacred temple, and she made for a quick meal with her daughter as they waited before Diana would have to depart. Soon enough though, the guards returned with the armor, tiara, boots, and bracelets. Hippolyta also supplied Diana with the Golden Lasso of Truth that she kept at the side of her throne in the instance that it were ever needed for interrogation of potential intruders. Diana slipped away and changed from her white royal chiton and sandals into the armor that she had affectionately known for quite some time on man's world as Wonder Woman's armor. It fit exactly the same as it had when she had last worn it even though in this timeline that had not happened until this point in time. She stepped back out in front of her mother and received a passing appraisal from Hippolyta before the queen ordered her guards to leave them. When it was just the two of them, Hippolyta closed the gap between them and embraced her daughter, not as a queen but rather as a mother. "Be safe my little sun and stars, and return to us safely." She said quietly as she squeezed her daughter tightly before eventually releasing her and stepping back. Her regal stature had returned at that point. "You will make all Amazons proud Diana. I am sure of it."

"Thank you mother." Diana responded as she levitated off the ground before pausing and looking her mother in the eyes. "I love you."

Diana stayed there for a moment, but soon flew off out through a palace window and into the bright sun filled sky. Hippolyta watched silently until her daughter was no longer in sight before she turned to head back to her throne. "I love you too, my daughter." She said quietly as she sat down on the throne with a worrisome yet pride filled heart.

~~ Metropolis ~~

Diana went for the closest place she knew of to travel towards in search of any possible help she could be afforded. She hoped that Kal would still have traveled to the grand city and that he'd already established himself as its champion just as he had in her own timeline. What she found however was a city that was still in the middle of being rebuilt. There were quite a number of buildings that seemed to have Lex Luthor's touch applied to them. She wondered just what had happened that caused the need to rebuild anything. The city now was dirty and broken. It certainly wasn't the beacon that she'd recalled that it should be. As she flew in closer, she began to have doubts about her friend being there at all. She wanted to move in for a closer look, but with no Superman there, she wondered just how well she'd be accepted wearing her armor. She knew that she had to be mindful that in this timeline, apparently an Amazon had yet to rejoin the populous. It also made her wonder just what else had been changed that she wasn't aware of. Her thoughts though seemed to be her downfall at this point though as she was no longer alone. "Can I help you miss?" A voice called from just above her.

Damn, she thought to herself at being caught off guard. She slowly rolled over to see that it was a Green Lantern flying above her, but while he was human, he certainly wasn't John Stewart. "Which Green Lantern are you?" She asked.

"I'm afraid I'll have to be the one asking the questions miss." The Green Lantern responded. "Who are you and what are you doing here in Metropolis?"

Diana was a bit agitated at the lack of respect, but she knew that her being unfamiliar with the happenings in this timeline, she needed to tread carefully. "I'm looking for someone." She offered. "Perhaps you know of him. His name is John Stewart."

The Green Lantern took on a somber expression for a moment. "I'm sorry miss, but John Stewart died during the White Martian siege a few years ago."

Diana gasped upon learning that one of her good friends had fallen in battle. "I'm so sorry to hear that." She replied. "Perhaps you could help me then?"

"Well that depends on what exactly you're doing here." The Green Lantern countered. "Flying humans without Green Lantern rings to power their flight tends to spell disaster wherever they go."

"I certainly don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble." Diana responded. "My people only wish to promote peace. My name is Diana of Themyscira, princess of the Amazons."

The Green Lantern whistled in almost disbelief. "Now I've heard it all." He said which puzzled Diana. "You're trying to tell me that the fabled race of Amazonian women actually exist? Well someone just pinch me now because I have to be dreaming."

"I assure you that this is no dream." Diana retorted. "Amazons are as real as the air that you breathe, and I don't mean to be rude, but you come off as much more brash than John Stewart."

"And just what do you know about John Stewart, Diana?" The Green Lantern questioned.

Diana hoped that not much changed during this timeline from what it did in her own. "John was a good man." She began. "He held true to military principles in battle and in life most of the time. I believe it was the marines if I recall correctly."

"Oookay." The Green Lantern responded. "So you did know John. Sorry about the hard time, but we're still sorting though the friends and enemies. My name's Guy, Guy Gardner. Since you seem to be new to here, maybe there is something I can help you with. What do you need?"

"If you have a list of every powered friend aside from Green Lanterns that would be a start." Diana suggested. "I'm honestly looking for certain individuals that might be able to help me with my mission from the Gods and Goddesses."

Gods and Goddesses?" Guy questioned. "You don't mean like Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, and ones like that do you?"

"You know of our Gods and Goddesses?" Diana responded inquisitively.

"Yeah, thanks to learning about Greek mythology in high school." Guy answered. "Aside from some of their names, I don't know too much about them, but then again I never thought that they were actually real until meeting you, and I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm still not completely sold on it though."

"There are many from outside the shores of Themyscira that have disregarded them foolishly." Diana stated. "Can you help me with the information that I'm seeking?"

"I'll see what I can do." Guy responded before signaling for Diana to follow. He did end up going over the information that she was looking for, and when none of the names she was looking for appeared, they then went through the list of all the enemies that had been captured. Diana was relieved to see that none of her friends were on that list either. She then departed on friendly terms with Guy. Even though he was a Green Lantern, she didn't know enough about him to entrust him with her mission. Instead she had Guy help her trade off some gold coins she'd brought with her from Themyscira and get them transferred to American currency. From that point on, they went their separate ways.

Diana took her currency and purchased some clothing to better blend in with the populous, and then went to the Daily Planet to find there was no Clark Kent there, but there was still a Lois Lane. She seemed to be just as competitive as the Lois that Diana knew, but was too consumed with a project she was working on to make an attempt at reintroducing herself. She then went to the city's Hall of Records and did some research before finally discovering that Superman was not a known commodity to Metropolis whatsoever. She hoped that Kal just resided in a different city than Metropolis and was being silent about his powers rather than something more serious happening to her best friend. The bottom line was that Metropolis was a dead end for the time being, and she had to move on to other heroes that she knew in the original timeline. She planned to move on from city to city until she found something concrete to research further. The next closest city she knew of was Gotham, and that meant trying to locate Bruce and find out what happened with him. Surely Bruce was still somewhere around Gotham City. She knew that the city meant everything to him as Batman, and the Dark Knight was created from the tragedy of his parents' murders. Perhaps that tie was still strongly instilled in the man.

~~ Wayne Tower ~~

"Are you about ready to go Bruce?" Thomas asked as he walked into his son's office. "Your mother's going to be waiting for us if you take any longer."

"Sorry dad, just finishing up some details on this deal with Japan." Bruce explained as he signed one last document before filing everything together and locking it in his desk drawer. "I'm ready now."

"Good thing." Thomas stated with a smile. "Your mother would have a fit if we were late tonight. She's spent so much time working on her charity event that we can't let ourselves be the cause for any problems. Speaking of, I don't suppose you have Veronica Vreeland joining you this evening do you son?"

"Ronnie?" Bruce questioned as he walked with his father to the elevator. "She's a lot of fun to be around dad, but she's too into the social scene and being the focus of attention. We're still good friends, but we both knew that something just didn't work out between us."

"That's a shame." Thomas commented. "I liked that one a lot more than some of the other girls you've brought home. She actually seemed to make you take some time to enjoy life instead of just working."

"I enjoy what I do here dad." Bruce responded. "And besides, I'm good at it too. Lucius even suggested that when he's ready to retire, I could slide into his position and the company wouldn't miss a beat."

"That's a tall order to replace Lucius, Bruce." Thomas said. "But I have to agree with him. When he's ready to step down you're more than ready to take the reins of the entire company. I'm just glad I have the two of you to rely on. It gives me time to enjoy some of the simpler things in life."

Bruce and Thomas continued to playfully banter all the way through the main lobby and during the entire ride back to the Manor with Alfred chipping in whenever it was asked of him to provide his opinion. As they traveled home though, the conversation changed from business to what more they could do for the city as it still was in need of saving. The mob had sunk its fangs into the inner workings of the city so deep, that removing any of them was not only going to be a challenge, but also extremely dangerous for those who did choose to make a stand. Bruce still followed in his mother's example, wanting to do more to help wherever they could by continually donating and raising funds to help rebuild the city. They did have one advantage in that the White Martian invasion had given them a gap in time where the mobsters remained away and their property could be bought out from under them. It was a hefty price to force the buyout of the properties, but they all believed that in the end it would be worth it. They bought the land, and then raised funding to build affordable housing for the needy. For the time being that was the best that they could offer without raising the ire of the mob.

Diana had chosen to fly in from the bay area so that she could get a good look at what she hoped was still Bruce's home. Sure enough the giant home still sat atop the Palisades overlooking the sea. She took her time in locating the entrances to the Batcave, but found nothing at all. She knew though that the cave was there, and looked thoroughly over the hillside until she finally located a crevice to slip in through. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness as she moved deeper inside until finally stepping into the massive opening of cave. Gone was all the equipment that she'd recalled being there, leaving her disappointed. This was just a cave for real bats, and not the home of the infamous Batman. It was true that Bruce had never became the dark vigilante of Gotham just as Kal had never gone to Metropolis. Diana wondered just how much had been altered from her timeline as she finished walking around the bat infested cave before leaving the same way that she came in.

Diana was more cautious about approaching Gotham after the conflict she'd encountered with Guy in Metropolis. One certainty with this time was that flying Meta-humans seemed to be frowned upon, and she didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to herself. She used her enhanced vision to locate an alley that was empty, and landed there before she walked out into the crowd of people along the street, and then she took in the city and how different it looked. It was dirtier than she recalled it being, even more so in the areas that seemingly weren't affected from the White Martian invasion. From what little information she'd gathered, that conflict lasted much longer than it had in her timeline when the Justice League had been originally formed. Had it not been for the Green Lantern Corps' intervention, the Earth might've been overrun with those evil Martians instead of humans.

With Diana deep in thought over what she'd learned, a couple of thieves saw a distracted woman and took that opportunity to run up behind her and try to steal the duffle bag she had slung over her shoulder that happened to store the Wonder Woman armor inside it. They were both surprised though when they were stopped immediately by the strap of the bag not giving away combined with her grip on it. Before the thieves even had a chance to get up, they were in the grip of an angry Amazon before she slammed them into a wall of the building they were close to. "You picked the wrong day to try and rob someone." She seethed through clenched teeth before knocking their heads together with enough force to send them both crumpling to the sidewalk unconscious.

"Whoa, are…are you alright miss?" She heard someone ask, but what grabbed her attention wasn't that something was being said, but the tone. It was his voice, and that instantly lightened her mood as she looked up to see Bruce standing before her. He was holding what appeared to be dry cleaned suits and after realizing her surroundings, she figured out that she'd slammed the crooks up against the building that housed a dry cleaning business.

"Bruce." She breathed out as she pulled the strap of the bag back over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" He asked, and all the optimism she'd initially felt began to evaporate.

"I apologize for the interruption, Master Bruce." Alfred called to him from beside the car. "But unless the young lady is in need of a phone to call the police, then I'm afraid we need to get back to the Manor."

"Right Alfred." Bruce sheepishly said as he pulled out his cell phone and offered it to her. "If you need a phone, you can use mine, miss…"

"Diana." She quickly blurted out as she kindly declined using his phone by gently pushing it back to him. Even though she was disappointed that he didn't recognize her, still seeing both Bruce and Alfred had lifted her spirits. "And I don't think that will be necessary. I think these two have learned a valuable lesson, but thank you for your concern."

"Anytime, Diana." Bruce said with a friendly smile as he placed the phone back into his pocket. He thought that this Diana standing before him was absolutely the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen before. He wanted nothing more than to stay there and try talking her into joining him for dinner sometime, but his trusty butler placed a steady hand on his shoulder.

Alfred held his same professional yet courteous demeanor towards Diana that she remembered him always having. "I can see that young Master Bruce is a bit tongue tied at the moment, but we really have to be going. We will be late otherwise."

"Oh, well I certainly wouldn't want to be the cause of that." Diana responded as she took a second to look into Bruce's eyes. They held that same kindness she remembered from her own timeline, and even if it was a small thing like that she was still happy to see that some things hadn't changed. "I'm fine, so please don't let me hold you up."

Alfred smiled and ushered Bruce back to the car. Inside, Bruce's father had an entertained smile plastered all over his face. "I'm surprised that you didn't ask her to come to your mother's charity event beings that you're apparently dateless for the evening." He teased.

"Ask her out?" Bruce questioned as he gave a look that read like he thought his father had lost his mind. "I just met her."

"And how can you get to know someone better if you don't take a chance Bruce?" Thomas pressed. "She seems lovely, and judging from the look on your face, you're quite taken with her. Ask her to come. You might just enjoy it." Alfred had just climbed into the driver seat after walking around the car and was reaching to put the car in gear. "Hold on just a second Alfred."

Bruce gave his father a look showing his embarrassment, but his father merely crossed his arms over his chest as if to say they weren't budging until his son took the initiative. So with a sigh, Bruce rolled down the window before sticking his head out. "Umm excuse me, Diana." He started before clearing his throat. "If you don't have plans for the evening, I was wondering…there's a charity event being held at Wayne Manor. And…and I was wondering if you might be going."

Diana smiled upon hearing Bruce fumble through his words. He was nervous. That was something she'd never seen out of him before. She found herself enjoying that moment. "I actually wasn't aware of it Bruce." She responded. "I haven't received an invitation to this event. I don't suppose that just anyone can walk in?"

"There is a guest list, but that's not exactly what I meant." Bruce said. "I actually was meaning to ask if you'd come…as my guest."

"You're asking me to be your date." Diana stated in a teasing manner. She couldn't help herself but to enjoy seeing Bruce acting this way. She held silent for a few seconds to make him sweat a little before finally giving him her answer. "I'd love to Bruce."

"Great!" Bruce exclaimed. "It's a formal affair, and it starts at eight o'clock tonight. Do you know the way there?"

"I…think I can manage." Diana responded.

"Excellent." Bruce stated. "Alfred will know to look for you. I'll see you there then?"

"Yes." Diana answered. "I'll see you there."

Bruce smiled and sat back down in the car as Alfred began to pull away. On the other side of the car, Thomas smiled arrogantly toward his son. Bruce couldn't say anything to wipe that look off his face, because he knew that his father had been right the whole time. He knew that his son was taken by this woman, and she was stunning even in something as simple as jeans and a coat. Perhaps fate was smiling down upon his son as things with Ronnie didn't pan out. Perhaps things would be different with this girl. Thomas wanted Bruce to be able to find his own version of Martha to grow old with. It would help him to see the other aspects of life that were worth being a part of. And even though he never spoke to this woman, there was something about her and how she interacted with Bruce as Thomas watched from the car. It made him think back to when he was chasing after Martha. She was playful, yet didn't leave him hanging too long just as Martha had done with him when they first met.

Diana stood on the sidewalk smiling as Bruce pulled away down the street. She soon realized though that accepting Bruce's invitation had given her very little time to prepare. She looked around and found an area where she could once again head into the sky without detection, and then she flew over to the section of the city that held fashion stores from her timeline and was relieved to see that most of them still existed in this one. With it being in the middle of winter, it became dark earlier in the evening and she had more ground to conceal her landings from view. As soon as she touched down she darted into the store entrance and began perusing the different stores. Soon enough a retail clerk came to her side offering assistance, and Diana decided to take what help she could get. She explained the occasion, and the clerk instantly jumped into action, pulling all kinds of dresses from the shelves that would be appropriate for a Wayne held charity event. Diana eventually settled on a blue sequined dress where the straps wrapped around the neck and left the back bare. There were slits on each side to allow for maximum movement for dancing should the need arise. She naturally assumed that Bruce would know how to dance in this timeline just as he did in hers.

Once Diana had selected and paid for her dress, heels and light coat to offer some protection from the weather conditions, she then made her way over to a hotel and rented a room for the evening. Once inside she settled down quickly, taking the time to shower and prepare herself as best she could with her limited tools. With no hair styling equipment, after simply brushing it, she let it hang freely around her face. Fortunately it had just enough natural curl in it to appear as though she'd spent a good amount of time styling it. She was never one to wear makeup so that wouldn't be an issue, and that left just getting dressed and then traveling over to the Manor to meet back up with Bruce.

Thinking about that, Diana jotted down in her mind the similarities that she'd seen in Bruce. Obviously he was still with his surrogate father Alfred, and that could only bode good things for him as Alfred would never allow him to be less than a proper gentleman. He was holding a charity event so she knew that he was likely still donating some of his fortune on the city. That also meant he was likely heading Wayne Enterprises as well. She knew however that he wasn't Batman in this timeline, and she wondered just what else she would find that was different about him. One thing that she hoped to find though was that he'd still have his brilliant deductive mind and might be able to help her find the person responsible for all of the changes to the world by filtering through all the differences to find the culprit. If that turned out to be the case then out of all of her allies, Bruce would present the best chance at helping to find this enemy.

~~ Wayne Manor ~~

"I wish you could've been there Martha." Thomas beamed. "I swear the boy had sparks flying when he saw this girl. I'd bet he couldn't even pronounce Veronica Vreeland."

"Well then I certainly hope she decides to show up." Martha said as she put the finishing touches on herself with beautiful dangling earrings. "Especially since you're using her as your excuse for being late getting back here."

Thomas paused in fixing the knot in his tie at hearing his wife's response until he saw the mischievous smile on her lips. "We still got back in time to get everything set up my dear." He playfully countered before bending over and placing a kiss on her cheek. "Speaking of time though, I think we need to get downstairs. The guests should start arriving any minute now."

Diana landed just inside the gates of the Manor, camouflaged by the darkness of night. She was a few minutes late to allow the masses she'd assumed would be there to mostly be inside when she arrived so that she could fly over and have a better chance at not being spotted. Alfred was waiting at the door and recognized her immediately. He instantly had her bypass the small line of people awaiting entrance and showed her to the ballroom. The house looked very much like she expected with only some subtle differences in decoration. Alfred definitely seemed to be the same type of man that she recalled as well. She was becoming very hopeful that this evening would give her some clues as to where to look next for her mission. She wanted to get all of her friends back and restore the timeline as soon as she could. She knew though, that the fastest way to do that was to find the differences and the causes. From there she might be able to pinpoint the who's and the why's so that she could put a stop to it. Alfred released her once they arrived at the entrance to the ballroom so that he could take her coat and he return to his duties. Now alone, Diana looked around for a moment until she heard his deep baritone voice just off into the distance.

"Good evening Commissioner Loeb." Bruce said as he shook the commissioner's hand. "I'm glad you were able to attend."

"It's my pleasure Bruce." The commissioner responded. "I always try to represent our police force whenever we're trying to raise funds for the city."

"I just hope that one day that we make a big enough difference so that the people of Gotham will feel safe to walk the streets again." Bruce commented just before he caught sight of Diana as she was making her way over to him. He took a moment to collect himself to where he could hold his jaw and keep his mouth from hanging agape. The commissioner noticed the look on Bruce's face and turned around to see who had caused such a reaction out of him only to find that his jaw too felt heavier and more difficult to keep his mouth from hanging open at the sight of Diana.

Bruce had managed to pull himself together and also got his feet working, but not before Diana had seen the look on his face. She smiled as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind one of her ears just as the came together. "I'm glad that you chose to come." Bruce said as he took Diana's hand and brushed his lips against her knuckles.

"I said that I would Bruce, and I always keep my word." Diana responded as she discreetly took in her surroundings. "It seems that your charity event is doing well."

"Well, the night's still young Diana." Bruce replied as his eyes remained fixed on her beautiful blue eyes. "You look absolutely radiant Diana, if you don't mind my saying. Have you been in Gotham long?"

"I just arrived actually." Diana answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well you seem to have an innocence about you that doesn't typically last long for those that live here."

"You still live here." Diana countered. "The city can't be that bad if someone like you still works to make it a better place to live."

"We do what we can, but there's so much more that's being stopped by the mob ties that hold this city down." Bruce explained. "One day hopefully we can get it cleaned up, but until then we'll just continue to do everything that we can."

"I didn't figure you for one to just sit by and let Gotham City crumble." Diana half teased.

"You seem like you know quite a bit about me Diana." Bruce surmised. "But all I know about you is your first name. If you'll allow me, I'd like the opportunity to find out more."

"What would you like to know?" She asked.

"Well first I'd like to know if you would do me the honor of joining me for a dance." Bruce requested, to which Diana took him by the arm and walked with him to the center of the dance floor. She recalled vividly her time in the past and let Bruce take the lead, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that Bruce could dance just as well as she remembered. Perhaps even a little better. She allowed herself to become lost as they danced together to the rhythm of the music that the small orchestra was playing. Soon it felt as though they were the only two dancing, and neither of them cared as they were just enjoying the moment together. Before she even realized what had happened, Diana had her arms draping around Bruce's neck and their bodies were pressed together as they continued to move to the music. With that closeness Bruce couldn't avoid breathing in Diana's jasmine scent. It didn't smell like a soap or a perfume though, but rather just a natural aroma coming off of her. He found it to be quite soothing and it caused him to sigh contently as he enjoyed their closeness.

There was something that just seemed familiar about being that close to Diana. It just felt right to Bruce and he didn't know why, but he also found that he didn't care either. He was simply enjoying the moment with her. They stayed out on the dance floor for what seemed like hours. Occasionally they shared in conversation about each other. Diana seemed to want to hear everything about Bruce, and she shared some things about herself, but kept the fact of her being an Amazon out of the conversation for the time being. She didn't want to startle him based on her discoveries in Metropolis, and if she had to admit it, she was having a good time too and didn't want it to end. Eventually though the evening was coming to a close. The charity event had raised all the funding they were seeking and many of the attendees were making their exits. Soon it was actually just Bruce on the dance floor with Diana, matching how they had felt. He hadn't had this much fun in ages it seemed to him. He was enthralled with this woman that had just come into his life, and he didn't want the night to end even though he knew that it would. Both of them continued dancing with their eyes closed when Bruce suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He paused to turn around and saw that it was his father. "Last song son." Thomas said. "Why don't you give your mother the final dance, and I'll tend to your new friend."

Diana's eyes became large as saucers upon seeing Bruce's parents in front of her. They were both alive. How was it possible? She tried to regain her composure as Bruce's father took her by the hand and began dancing with her. She still couldn't get her brain to function past the questioning thought of how were Bruce's parents there on the dance floor with them. She watched as Bruce spun around with his mother while Thomas was doing the same with her. When the song ended, she only had one question in her mind, and that question was how.


	6. Chapter 6: Traveling Plans

Diana makes some more discoveries about how the world has changed, and has Bruce as her guide.

Chapter 6: Traveling Plans

* * *

><p>She had blindly followed all three Waynes into the study, her mouth still hung open much to her dismay as Bruce led her to a couch, and they sat across from Thomas and Martha, a coffee table the only thing separating them from his parents. Alfred came in carrying a tray of tea and coffee for the four of them, and he set it down before leaving to finish attending to the ballroom. As Thomas and Bruce poured the tea for the ladies, Diana took the opportunity to look around at the decorations in the room. It was very much like the way that Bruce had kept it in her timeline, but there was one glaring difference. Above the fireplace there was no portrait of his parents at all. In fact it was an open space bereft of decoration. Before she knew what she was doing, she found that she'd stood up and walked over to the fireplace looking at that empty space. She was consumed by the thought that the portrait was Bruce's one way of capturing the essence of his parents, as though he could only have one or the other. She then reached up and allowed her fingers to touch the wall where the portrait would've been. "I've told Thomas so many times that we should put a family portrait up in that spot." Martha commented as all of them sat there watching Diana as she stood there.<p>

Martha's words managed to bring her back to the reality of where she was at that moment, and she quickly withdrew her hand and turned back to her hosts. "I don't know." She replied. "Perhaps some other form of decoration would be better." She replied as she rejoined Bruce on the couch and took the tea cup that he'd offered her.

"You seem lost." Thomas said.

"I'm sorry." Diana responded after almost choking on her tea. When she composed herself and set the tea cup down, she continued. "What makes you say that?"

"Just the look in your eyes." He answered. "Also the fact that all of our guests have left and there are no cars left aside from our own."

"How did you get here dear?" Martha asked.

"Taxi cab." Diana answered quickly before looking over to the grandfather clock that had been the cover for the entrance to the Batcave. It was still right there, seemingly waiting to be used. She wondered if it could possibly still have the entrance there that it did in her timeline. It was then that she actually looked at the time. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize the late hour. I should be going."

"Where are you staying?" Bruce asked.

"I have a hotel room at the Radisson in the city." Diana answered, and then noticed the peculiar looks on Thomas and Martha's faces.

"I think it might be best if you waited until morning to return there Diana." Bruce commented. "This time of night, even if we dropped you off at the door, it wouldn't be safe for you."

"I think I can take care of myself." Diana replied, insulted by the thought that Bruce believed she could be in any danger just by returning to her hotel room.

"I'm afraid Bruce is right." Martha added. "Judging from your response, you must be a very independent woman." After Diana's nod in the affirmative she continued. "But you have to understand that this city is different from any other, especially during the night. There's not enough good cops out there that are willing to risk their own safety during the night. And even if they are brave enough, they still don't have the equipment to protect themselves from all the evils and violence the city contains. It's why we try to raise funding as often as possible, and why Thomas and Bruce both work so hard to make sure that our company is always profitable so that we can use our own means to help."

"That's very commendable of you, but that still doesn't explain why you believe I would be in such danger." Diana voiced. "I've had years of training in different forms of martial arts, and know well how to protect myself."

"Even so, no amount of training is enough for this city." Thomas chimed in. "You see Diana, during the day, Gotham is allowed to limp by, but at night all of its ugliness comes out. The most violent and cruel seem to come out then, and even without that there's still nothing but criminals and drugs out there and they're allowed to run rampant."

"Why does no one stand up against this if it's known even by the elite of the city?" Diana asked. "Surely there has to be someone out there that's willing to take a stand against all of this evil and tyranny."

Thomas and Martha looked at each other for a moment, and then back at Diana. It was almost as if they knew something, but didn't know whether or not to mention it. Finally Thomas spoke in response to Diana's questions. "Because of the mobsters that have almost complete control over the city." Thomas stated. "Wayne Enterprises is one of the very few businesses that has no ties to the mob and we're only able to maintain that by all of the contacts and business dealings that are outside of the city. We maintained most of them from before the city had lost the majority of its control through backdoor payoffs, other dealings, and the criminally insane. Even the police force is mostly bought and paid for, and these days they simply can't be trusted. They seem to just look the other way and cover things up in order to keep all the criminals on the streets."

Diana listened for a while longer at just how bad the city was at night, and even though her pride wanted to shine through and return her to the hotel just to prove them wrong, one look at the worry in Bruce's eyes told her she needed to stay just to ease his concern. She wanted to learn more about all the differences in Gotham, and knowing the type of person that Bruce was, she had a more secure feeling that he wouldn't be dishonest with her. Eventually though Alfred returned to announce that the ballroom was straightened away and that he'd prepared a room for Diana at the end of the West Wing. Thomas and Martha stood and said their farewells to the younger couple before following Alfred out to retire for the rest of the evening. Bruce then led Diana to her room even though she actually knew where it was. As they walked side by side down the hall, she had so many more questions about Gotham, but she wasn't sure exactly how to ask them without giving away that she knew more than she was letting on. It was a walk filled with silence because of that, and it seemed to be ending that way when he stopped at the door just long enough to open it for her. He also seemed unsure about something, but eventually turned to make his leave while quickly saying goodnight. Diana though for reasons even she didn't understand reached out stopped him with a gentle hand on his upper arm. It was then that she came across another difference. Gone were the hardened muscles of a man that had spent a lifetime training and perfecting his body to bend to his every will. By no means was this version of Bruce out of shape, and in fact it was obvious that he still worked out often, but not to the religious regimen of the dark vigilante from her timeline. Bruce saw Diana looking down where her hand had touched his arm and wondered just what was on her mind. "Is something wrong with the room Diana?" He asked.

She blinked quickly and once again snapped out of her reverie. "Um, no…" She started. "I mean, not the room, but I do have more questions about the city. I'm not sure how to ask them so I'm just going to come out with it. They are questions such as how do you keep the mob from just blocking your products from being shipped out?"

"Well…" Bruce started. "Dad knew that the mob would eventually try to block everything and snuff out Wayne Enterprises entirely, so he hired some of the good cops and basically built his own armored guards. Our head of security is a good man, and took all his experience from being a police officer to build a strong team that keeps the company protected. We were fortunate to find him too. He was a detective when we met him years ago. He really wanted to bring change to Gotham, but when you're one of the only good cops on the force, it's almost an impossible task to ask of anyone. Especially for someone like Jim that has a family to protect."

"Jim?" She questioned. "You don't mean Jim Gordon do you?"

"Yes actually." Bruce answered. "Do you know him?"

Internally Diana was berating herself. How could she let her curiosity allow her to be so careless? She had to think quickly to come up with a response. "I recall stories of a highly decorated officer years ago that moved to Gotham." It wasn't a lie as she knew from reading up on Gotham and coming across Gordon's rise to becoming the Commissioner.

"I'm surprised that someone of your age would know about Jim's record from so many years ago." Bruce commented. "What other questions do you have?"

"Are you sure that you're up for answering more questions?" Diana asked.

"Absolutely." Bruce answered. "It's the weekend so if needs be, I'll just catch up on sleep in the morning. I wouldn't want to be inhospitable after all."

Diana chuckled slightly at the thought of Bruce Wayne being short with someone. Batman would certainly cut someone off if he didn't feel there was time to be wasted, which was often. "Very well Bruce." Diana conceded before walking into the bedroom and waiting for him to follow. Once he did, she took a seat on the bed and he eventually leaned against a dresser that was across from the bed against a wall in her line of sight. "I noticed that your parents hesitated in answering me about why there was no one to stand up against all the corruption and violence in the city. Do you know what they weren't saying?"

Bruce fidgeted slightly as if he'd just become incredibly uncomfortable as well. "Well…" He started before taking a steadying breath. "There were rumors once a few years ago. These rumors indicated that a man with super powers came into the city and began standing against all the crime and violence. There was a short time where it seemed to be working too."

"What happened then?" Diana asked. She wanted to know just who this Meta was and why they would give in.

"The rumors stopped sometime after _he _arrived." Bruce cryptically answered with a scowl appearing on his face.

"He?" Diana questioned. It couldn't be good if this person had caused such a reaction from merely mentioning his existence.

"He calls himself the Joker." Bruce answered. "He's done nothing since he arrived but destroy everything we've been working for. After he started getting noticed, the rumors about the vigilante went away. It was like he just disappeared off the face of the Earth, and that was when the city really needed him the most. We really thought things were going to turn around, and instead they ended up slipping even further into the darkness."

"I'm sorry to hear that Bruce." Diana responded. "Do you think that the Joker did something to this vigilante that the rumors spoke of?"

"No one knows." Bruce said. "But I'd be surprised if the rumors about this man were true."

"Why is that?" Diana asked.

"That was about the time that Jim realized he couldn't stay on the force any longer. He was the only one that was willing to try going after that lunatic." Bruce explained. "The mob didn't care about it until the Joker started to strong-armed them into using their influence to make Jim back off with the threat of going to war against them. If Jim didn't stop, then they'd threatened to have his wife and daughter killed. It wasn't long after that Jim knew he stood alone in his pursuit of doing what's right and he resigned. Dad heard about it and immediately offered Jim a position as head of our security. It was a hard sell at first, but we let him in on the selection of who his team was. That's why there are a couple of former police officers on his staff. Dad and I know how important the security team is to Wayne Enterprises too so we make certain they aren't going to be easily bought off. They're actually one of the best paid departments in the entire organization, but in the end it's worth it to be free of mob ties. The only threat we do have is when the Joker and his gang decide to hit us, but with the struggle for power with him and the mob, that's a rarity these days. There's not much to gain from coming after us for either side other than some extra money."

"That sounds terrible." Diana reacted. "It's a shame that more can't be done for this city. It has a real beauty that is lost in all this darkness."

"Yes it is terrible." Bruce reciprocated. "But I guess I didn't actually answer your question did I. Since Jim's been with Wayne Enterprises, he's talked about the rumors that he heard during his time on the force. There were criminals being caught and subdued by the time the police happened to arrive on the scene. When that didn't result in arrests, he began to drop off the thugs and criminals at the step of the MCU where the police simply couldn't ignore it and let the criminals loose. Instead they started issuing arrest warrants about how vigilantism was illegal and wouldn't be tolerated. They even stated that they had no choice but to let the criminals go because of due process not being used and any other loophole that could be exploited. Jim used to talk about how the criminals that this vigilante brought in would say crazy things about how this man was faster than anything on the planet, and that they couldn't even hit him when they shot at him. Some even claimed to have shot him and the bullets bounced off of him like they were throwing pebbles at him, but then the Joker began popping up all over the place and you basically know the rest."

_Kal. _Diana almost let it slip out loud. Could her friend have chosen Gotham instead of Metropolis? But if he did, then why would he give in? It wasn't like Kal to surrender. She'd always known him to fight with everything that he had in the face of being destroyed. He'd stared down the likes of Doomsday and Darkseid on his own before the formation of the Justice League. She knew that the Joker was the most villainous of all their enemies, but if Bruce wouldn't ever give up, then why would Kal when the Joker was still only a mortal human with no Meta powers? She needed to know why, and she wanted to find out as soon as possible.

"Is there anything else you'd like to know about?" Bruce asked to break the silence that was beginning to loom in the room.

"Oh, sorry." Diana started. "I was just thinking about your vigilante rumors. They sound somewhat familiar to stories from a little town in Kansas, called Smallville."

"Maybe he went home for some reason." Bruce guessed.

Diana could see that his brilliant deductive mind was still working just as well even if it hadn't been trained and educated in forensics and the justice system. She knew that she wanted to leave and seek out Kal to find out what happened, but she was conflicted in that she'd found her good friend Bruce and didn't want to leave him behind even if he wasn't the Batman in this timeline. "Perhaps." She finally agreed. "I'd like to go and check that out soon."

"Kansas is quite a distance for cab fare or walking." Bruce teased to which Diana caught on quickly and smiled in response, but oh if only he knew the actual reason why. "If you'd like, after breakfast we could take the company jet and make a day of it. Maybe if we can find him we can talk him into coming back."

Diana saw Bruce push himself up and away from the dresser before coming over and sitting next to her on the bed. She glanced into his eyes when he grabbed hold of her hand and saw a hopeful look in them. It was something that'd she realized had been missing ever since she started asking more questions about the city. He and his family were obviously doing everything that they could, but he simply wasn't Batman. He wasn't unwavering in the quest for justice because he had his family here, and he'd found out from Jim Gordon that even good men could only take on so much. She'd gained a whole new level of respect and admiration for what her Bruce had done in her timeline. With Batman, the city was in so much better hands than without it. However that also brought another realization to her. In order for there to be a Batman and Gotham to be saved, Bruce's parents would have to die to send him down that path. "This city can be saved." She informed him. "It would take a special kind of man, and not one with super powers like the rumors have stated Bruce."

"What kind of man would it take?" He asked. "And how do I find him? All my family and I want is for Gotham to be safe."

"This man would have to be truly incorruptible." She explained as she thought of everything that Batman was and why. "He'd hide his face with a symbol that would strike fear into the criminal element as well as to protect his loved ones from any form of reprisal. He'd have to work tirelessly on his trade, learning everything there is to know about martial arts and criminology. Also, he'd have to have all kinds of tools to help him in his trade. Some form of assault vehicles, but there is one thing that's the most important over everything else."

"What's that?" Bruce asked.

"His one rule would have to be unbreakable." Diana answered. "That no matter what, he would under no circumstances take a life. Not even if it's someone like the Joker that truly deserves to see his end."

"Wow." Bruce responded. "That sounds like an incredible person, but I don't think there's anyone out there that fits that mold."

"What about someone like you Bruce?" Diana asked. "You have a desire like few others to save this city from its own demise. I think you could easily fit into that mold. I can see greatness within you."

"That's very flattering Diana, but I'm no crime fighter." Bruce resisted. "I may have some gadgets that our company's designed for the military over the years, but not a shred of training to speak of."

"So your physique is just a gift from the gods?" Diana questioned.

"Well...not entirely no." Bruce admitted. "I've been a part of an MMA gym for years, but I don't have the talents to take on all the criminals in Gotham. I'm not even the best student at the gym. I'm just a man."

"You do have a power Bruce." Diana said while placing a hand over his heart. "It's inside here. I know you have the heart of a warrior. You've just never let it come out."

"That sounds…nice." Bruce replied in disbelief, although a piece of him wanted her to be right. He did want this city to be safe. He still remembered that one civilian that had saved his family all those years ago. That man had asked his parents to continue doing what they had been for the city, but was there something more that they could be doing? Was there something that they'd been raising him to be able to do? The more that he thought about it, the more he wished it could be true. He did want to save the city in the name of that man on that night. That….one….man. "Maybe…one man can take a stand." He finally said.

Diana flinched upon hearing his words and then feeling his hand coming to rest on top of hers. Memories began to storm back of the close moments that they'd shared in her timeline. Before she knew what was happening though, she'd leaned in and touched her lips to his ever so gently. Bruce was surprised by the moment, but soon reacted in kind as he took his other hand and slid his fingers into Diana's hair, holding onto the back of her head as he slowly deepened the kiss. Diana was enjoying the intimate moment with Bruce, but soon her thoughts snapped back to reality. This wasn't her Bruce. Their close relationship hadn't been going on for years with this Bruce. It had only just started this afternoon and already she was kissing him! She immediately broke the kiss and fought to catch her breath along with her composure. "I'm so sorry." She apologized in between breaths. "I didn't intend to move so quickly."

"It's alright Diana." Bruce responded. He'd deeply enjoyed the kiss as it confirmed in his mind that she was attracted to him just as he knew that he was to her. The feeling that there was simply something between the two of them kept coming to his mind. He simply didn't want it to end. "After we return from Smallville, if you'd like maybe I could take you on a tour of Wayne Enterprises. We could see if there's something to your belief that I have what's needed to become the man that you spoke of."

Diana thought about that for the moment. She knew that this city had been affected incredibly with the fact that Bruce's parents were obviously alive. It was currently the closest thing to a lead that she had so far, and even though there was an incredible level of some emotion or feeling that she couldn't describe or understand growing inside of her about him, she decided that she needed to follow this lead to its end. "I'd love that Bruce." She replied. "Since we have such a big day, then perhaps we should get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

"Promise?" He asked with a hopeful smile.

Diana loved the look of that smile on Bruce's face. She decided then and there that she would etch that smile into her memories as she wanted to remember it on his face forever. Perhaps when the timeline was fixed she would make it a goal to see that smile on her Bruce's face. "I give you my word." Diana answered with a pleasant smile of her own. "Good night Bruce."

With that, Bruce stood up from the bed, and grabbed Diana's hand to brush his lips against her knuckles before he left her to get some sleep. She waited until he was out of sight before she got up and walked over to close the bedroom door. As soon as she did that, she spun around and leaned up against it. She wasn't sure what she had just gotten herself into. Thoughts of her dream came crashing back into her mind. The kiss was short, but still very powerful. That moment had left her incredibly flustered, and she wasn't sure how exactly to handle it. She had to force it from her mind for the time being. She had to focus on her mission, and that mission entailed what had happened to her other friend Kal. She'd found Bruce, and now it was time to find Superman. First though, she needed to gather some information so that when she traveled to Smallville with Bruce, it would leave Bruce without question when she led him over to the Kent's farm immediately. She knew that certain people in the world had benefited from dumb luck to stumble upon what they were looking for, but simply finding the place that Kal lived without any reason or evidence whatsoever would surely raise some questions. With Bruce showing that he still held a deductive mind, it would certainly bring about the questions as to how she knew so much, and she found that she didn't want to tell him. She needed to keep things based on her desire for peace in the world as she also searched for clues that would lead to the person responsible for the timeline changing in the first place. There was no question that the world was much better in most aspects before the past had been affected.

Diana waited for a few more minutes before unlocking the window as well as opening the balcony door to her bedroom. She stepped out closing the door behind her and flew off in the direction of the city. She'd gather any information that she could and return before daylight. Flying through the night air had never felt so good before. The cool air helped to clear her mind as she traveled back into the city. When she reached the city limits though, the serenity and quiet of the night was replaced with something else that was completely unpleasant to her ears. It was the sounds of screams, gunshots, and broken windows. She landed on the rooftop of her hotel despite her desire to investigate all of the distress and discord, but held off until she'd returned to her room and changed back into her armor. She didn't take the time of heading back through the roof however, and instead opened a window and jettisoned back out. It didn't take long at all for her to find one of the sources that the noises she'd heard were coming from. There was a woman being assaulted in an alleyway. Diana immediately landed behind the attacker, the noise of her feet meeting the ground being loud enough to draw his attention. When he saw what she was wearing, he began to laugh as he pulled out a gun. "A little early for Halloween ain't it lady?" The man taunted as he took aim. "But since you wanna interrupt my business, maybe I should teach you a lesson too."

"You can try if you wish." Diana stated as she began to stomp toward the man. He glared his teeth upon hearing her response as he squeezed the trigger and fired at her. Diana rose her arm up and deflected the bullet with her bracer with ease. Seeing this, the man fired three more times as she bore down upon him, each shot meeting the same fate. He was about to fire again until she grabbed the gun and began to crush it in her vice like grip. The man screamed in pain as some parts of the gun pinched tightly around his hand before he could pull it away. Once the weapon was a useless piece of scrap metal and Diana tossed it aside, the man had recomposed himself to the point where he ignorantly thought to attack with his bare hands by throwing a punch. Diana caught his fist in mid strike and yanked his arm until it was twisted behind his back. She then slammed him head first in the wall before pulling it back by his hair. "I think you've had just about enough." She said as she released him and he collapsed into an unconscious pile on the ground. Diana then turned to tend to the victim. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"What did you just do?" The woman asked as she knelt down next to the man on the ground. "Why did you do that?"

"I…I was only trying to help." Diana stated incredulously.

"Well thanks." The woman sarcastically responded. "Now when he gets up it'll only be worse for me. Next time just mind your own freaking business."

"I don't understand." Diana said. "Why would you stay around this man if he's only going to beat you?"

"He's my boss!" The woman yelled. "He's not as bad as a lot of the others. Now I'll be lucky if he even keeps me thanks to you, you dumb bitch. Get outta here before you ruin the rest of my life!"

Diana couldn't believe what she'd just heard from this woman that she thought to be a victim. Gotham was truly a fallen city. If it had fallen this far, she could only imagine how disheartening it had to be for those that had lived in this timeline the entire time unlike her. She decided that she would be best served returning to her hotel room until such a time that she better understood how to attack the city. Little did she know though that as she took off into the air, she was being watched from a doorway deeper in the alley. The person watching stepped out into the light as he saw her fly off out of sight. "Well, well." He said. "It looks like we have another freak in our midst. Hopefully this one wants to play more than the other." The woman next to her pimp looked up as she heard the cackling of the Joker before she took off without another thought. The Joker walked up to where the woman's unconscious pimp was still lying on the ground. He knelt down and checked the man's vitals for a moment. "Let him live too. Breaking her will be just as fun." Joker then began to laugh some more as he pulled out a knife and proceeded to slit the pimp's throat from ear to ear before wiping the blade off on the pimp's pants and returning to the building he'd watched from.

Diana flew down to the balcony of her room at Wayne manor. After she'd returned to her hotel room she performed as much research on Smallville as she could. There wasn't much at all to go on, but she'd found enough stories online that couldn't be explained to go off of as potential leads. She'd also found that there was a Clark Kent in the local school records from years ago. She was sure that Kal would have at least been there as a boy, and she hoped that he'd returned after his stint in Gotham. After a couple hours though, she knew she had to return to the Manor and get some rest at least. She quickly printed off everything that she found, and folded the pages up before placing them in her duffle bag that she'd purchased while buying clothes with the Green Lantern in Metropolis to stow them in. Then she changed back into her dress and left her room for the Manor.

Diana was exhausted and was happy to crawl into such a comfortable bed. Once the covers were pulled over her, she closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep. The next thing she recalled was a knock on the door. She didn't want to wake up at that moment though and tried to ignore it, but soon another knock came. "Diana." It was Bruce outside her door.

She didn't want to be rude even though she was still tired. "It's unlocked." She called out from the bed.

Bruce slowly opened the door as he stepped into her room. "Good morning." He said cheerfully. "I'm sorry if I woke you, but Alfred's prepared breakfast, and I thought we'd get a good jumpstart on the day."

"Yes, that's a good idea Bruce." Diana agreed as she began to sit up before realization struck her. She'd slipped out of the dress when she came back inside her room, and had nothing to cover her up but the sheets on the bed. She quickly grabbed the falling linen and pinned it under her arms. "I'm afraid I'll be joining breakfast in last night's attire. I hope that's alright."

"It's fine Diana." Bruce responded. "I was thinking of having Alfred go to gather your things before we head on our trip anyways. If you have your room card, he can be back by the time we finish breakfast."

"Alright Bruce." Diana yielded. "It's on the chair under the dress. Give me a moment to get dressed and I'll join you."

Bruce grabbed the card and pulled the bedroom door shut behind him as he left. He walked down the hallway and to the kitchen area where Alfred and his parents had all been. He handed the trusty butler Diana's room card and instructed him to gather her things and bring them back to the Manor, and then told his parents that he was going to borrow the jet so that he could take Diana somewhere. They didn't question the where's or why's, but rather only smiled toward each other before returning to what they'd been doing before their son walked in the room. It was obvious to the both of them that he was without a doubt smitten with this woman, and they weren't about to interfere. They didn't know why, but they felt that this woman was special and wanted to see what would become of her and their son. Within a couple minutes, Diana walked in and joined them all as well. Bruce took the initiative in serving the food and drink for Diana. She couldn't help but to smile at Bruce the server, and saw the exquisite food sitting before her. Alfred had clearly gone all out for her, and she knew how good of a chef he was already. This feast was going to be greatly enjoyed, that she knew for certain.

Breakfast was as lovely as Diana had expected. Bruce was quiet for the most part while Thomas and Martha joined Diana in small talk about nothing in particular until Alfred arrived with Diana's duffle bag in hand. She stood from the table and retrieved her bag from the butler before leaving to change into clothing that would be more suitable for traveling to the small Kansas town, and returned to find Bruce waiting at the front door for her with Alfred at his side. He was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, so fitting for a casually dressed Bruce; although she thought seeing him in jeans was slightly odd, but that feeling quickly passed as she joined him, putting her free arm in the crook of his. "Ready to go?" She asked, gaining a smile from Bruce.

"I'm as ready as I've ever been Diana." Bruce replied as they walked out the front door to begin their trip together. "First stop, Smallville."


	7. Chapter 7: Smallville Rediscovered

Diana and Bruce travel to Kansas in search of the Gotham vigilante and her best friend.

Also wanted to give a special thanks to Classic Cowboy on his help with some of the details during the last two chapters.

Chapter 7: Smallville Rediscovered

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><p>The flight out to Kansas was pleasant and filled with friendly chatter as Diana and Bruce maintained a friendly distance between one another. She'd taken all of her supplies with her, which had left Bruce initially disappointed as he read into that as an indicator that Diana was planning on finding somewhere other than her room at the Manor. He knew that they had moved more quickly than either of them had anticipated, but to deny that there was something special growing between them would be lying to themselves. Bruce though only decided that he would simply have to increase his resolve and determination in seeing through just what it was that was between Diana and him. For the moment though, he was content to go through all of the details that Diana had to share with him.<p>

There wasn't very much information to go off of, but Bruce could see that there was at least enough to believe that it was at least plausible for him to investigate. He came to find a handful of unexplainable events that had occurred in the small town over the years. One story was an instance where a barn began to collapse on top of a farmer and his horses on a particularly windy and storm filled day. As the barn began to topple over to one side, it suddenly stopped before teetering a moment and then held steady. When the farmer worked up the nerve to come out and see what had happened, he came to find that three large trees had managed to somehow find their place pinned as makeshift crutches in a manner that allowed the barn to continue standing. Most believed it was by the Grace of God and a miracle that he was saved, but no one could figure out just how those trees were uprooted and dropped equally apart on the side of the barn in a manner that would allow it to continue standing.

Another story was of a store robbery that was foiled by a strange set of scenarios. The gun at one point became so incredibly hot that it left second and third degree burns on his hand. The local patrons that had been hostages at that point took over from there, tackling the unarmed robber and holding him down until the police arrived. Upon looking over the evidence, when the police went to pick up the gun they found that it had even started to melt. No one could explain that, and the police interviewed each and every witness that had been in the store, but found that no one had witnessed the event. They all had been previously instructed to lie on the ground with their heads down, and didn't look up until they heard the robber scream in pain followed by the sound of the gun dropping onto the ground. It was only then that any of them acted.

Of the few other instances, there were scenarios that had some question as to how things had happened, but not nearly enough of a cause to believe it could've been a super powered being. Especially when he based on the witness testimonies that came with those stories. To Bruce, it came down to those two stories. He'd heard of something similar with the gun when the rumors were flying through Gotham, and that was enough for him to warrant further research.

Diana had agreed, but also didn't want to simply throw out the other stories. She also agreed that they didn't warrant further investigation, but used them as references when she laid out a map of the area. There were a few farms that were at a centralized point within all of the abnormalities that happened in those years. When he asked her which one to start with, she selected one that made sense as it was in a geographic point that logically made sense. Bruce had gone over her points and ended up agreeing with that plan as what seemed to be the best. She had wanted to head over to the Kent's farm first, but thought better of it once again as she instead found a way that would work to get them to the Kents as the second stop. The only thing that could derail her in the quest at that point was if Kal ended up having not returned to his hometown. If that was the case, then she'd have to at least temporarily break off from Bruce to travel to the Fortress of Solitude. Simply put, there was no explaining going from a small town in Kansas out to a frozen tundra in the middle of nowhere. It wouldn't be a long trip, but she could sense that Bruce would question why she'd continued her pursuit alone, and she didn't even like omitting why she went to Gotham in the first place. That knowledge had started weighing on her just from being quiet about it with Bruce even though she knew that she needed to remain quiet.

By the time the jet touched down, Bruce had already secured transportation and a decent cover story that he hoped would help in easing the tongues of the Smallville people they were going to visit out of the clear blue. He decided to have them pose as researchers for a piloting TV show that researched the unexplainable in the country. Diana found out yet another similarity with her Bruce and the Bruce Wayne of this timeline. They both were certainly not without their means or methods of remaining inconspicuous. She had to admit that it was a great idea to pose as a budding TV program. The only thing that she didn't like was the fact that he had set her up as the main character for the show. She couldn't argue with him though because Bruce had used some of his business connections and when they did arrive, there was a small production crew assembled and waiting for them at the first farm. The family there had already been introduced and informed that if there was plausible evidence, the show producers would set up a place to film interviews with the host Diana present.

Bruce sat in with Diana and actually did the majority of the interview. The farmer seemed to be in awe over Diana, and she would've taken offense to being constantly gawked at, but it seemed to be serving a purpose as the he seemed all the more willing to share his story in the hopes of being interviewed by her personally for the show. If she had to admit it, she was glad that Bruce was doing much of the talking. He definitely had the talent to pull off such a ruse, especially if it would be compared to her. After the interviews, they went to the site of the now collapsed and replaced barn. Inside of it, the farmer held an album with photos that revealed what it was that he'd found when the storm passed. Looking at those photos, it was definitely feasible to believe that someone or some thing had most definitely been there to move the trees in place. Diana wished that the trees had still been there to inspect. She was sure that if Kal had been the reason they were put against the barn to keep it from falling over, then there would likely be someplace on them that showed where he'd have grabbed hold of them to rip them from the ground. Being a farmer that had been taught to use everything from the land though, he'd eventually cut and split the trees to use for firewood.

Bruce led Diana back to their car so that they could continue on with their "investigation", and move onto the next farm. She waited until the car was back out on the world before shaking her head in disbelief. He noticed and gave her a questioning glance as he continued driving down the road. "What is it?" He asked.

"I just can't believe that this ruse worked." Diana responded. "You didn't even have to alter your appearance, and not a single person realized that you're actually a billionaire."

"It's not that hard to conceive if you think about it." Bruce countered. "How many COO's do you honestly know by face or even by name? It might've been a little more difficult if it were dad in my place, but even still, this is Kansas. Aside from some of the products that are made and distributed here from Wayne Enterprises, not many people here would be concerned about the who's who of Gotham City."

Diana thought about that for a moment. The Bruce from her timeline was the face of Wayne Enterprises, and had made a public spectacle of himself that had brought him world wide recognition as a billionaire playboy that was more concerned about extreme sports and hot women than anything else. In this timeline Bruce was the next in line behind his father, and he'd never had a reason to hide other facets of his personality from any reprisals. In this timeline, Bruce was complete, whole and not broken and splintered. Getting to know him was becoming rather difficult for her as she could only imagine how Bruce would be if he hadn't been tortured at the hands of a fate no man or woman should be met with, but she knew that eventually if she were successful he would return to that broken version of himself.

Fortunately for Diana they soon arrived at the Kent's farmhouse, and she had to clear her mind of the thoughts about Bruce. She stayed in the car for a few moments composing herself, and it was enough time that Bruce had made it around the car to open the door for her. Typically she wouldn't allow that, but this time she needed the extra few seconds to push the water back from glistening in her eyes. She had a mission to continue, and this was not the time to allow tears to form. Focusing her mind on the task at hand, she stepped out of the car and followed Bruce up to the door where they were met with a friendly looking older woman. She knew instantly that this was Kal's _Ma_ he'd always carried on about in his farm life stories before the cape was donned. "Can I help you?" Martha Kent asked as she wiped her wet and soapy hands on the apron she'd been wearing.

"Yes, Mrs. Kent." Bruce answered as he took her hand for a moment. "We're in the process of producing a reality show about some of the unexplained phenomena that's happened around this country, and a few of your neighbors have what I think could be a real opportunity to qualify for our pilot episode. If you and your family could spare a few moments of time, we'd like to ask you some questions about some of the claims."

Bruce was certainly using his charms and brilliant smile to win Martha Kent over, and it appeared to be working as she glanced around at the filming crew that was also pulling in behind them. It was at that point when her husband made his presence known however. "Martha, what's going on?" Jonathan asked as he came in from the kitchen. "Who are all these people?"

Bruce smiled and stepped in front of Jonathan with his hand held out as he reintroduced himself to Jonathan. Kal's father seemed to be quite apprehensive, and especially so when he was informed of the makeshift reason that they were there in the first place. He wasn't nearly as good at hiding that they knew more than they were letting on as his wife was. She'd reacted much in the same way that her neighbor did by showing at least some interest and willingness to answer questions about what the claims were. It wasn't until Bruce brought up the trees being used to keep a falling barn propped up that Jonathan started to react in a manner that read he was being incredibly defensive.

"John?" He questioned. "That's what you're going off of is our crazy neighbor down the street?"

"Well his photographs are the part that was the most convincing to us Mr. Kent." Bruce countered.

"I've long since stopped believing in fairy tales, Mr. Thompkins." Jonathan continued to argue. "Even if they do come with doctored photos, and I think it's long time you come to the same conclusion. This is a small town, and we appreciate things being kept qui….."

"What's going on?" The oh so familiar voice called out as the back door swung open. There he was, partially covered in mud. He'd obviously overheard Jonathan's voice rising slightly and had come to investigate it. Diana could hardly believe her eyes seeing Kal in this fashion.

"Oh nothing Clark." Jonathan replied. "Just some big city people trying to get rich off of nonsense."

"Hello." Bruce exchanged, focusing on Superman instead of his father. "My name's Bruce Thompkins. We came to Smallville to investigate some claims from the neighbors about some unexplainable situations. Your….father here was just giving us his account on some of the stories we've been informed of such as your neighbor John down the street."

"Oh John?" Clark asked in fake surprise. "I think Pa's actually right about him. He's got a wild imagination thinking that someone could've done what he claims."

Diana stepped in front of Bruce for the first time and took Clark's hand in hers. "It's nice to meet you." She said aloud before whispering in a tone low enough that only a superhuman could hear it. "Kal."

Clark's eyes became as large as saucers for only a split second, but that was more than enough as even Bruce managed to see the change. He lowered his head for a minute before leaning to the side and looking directly at his father. "I need to have a word with our two guests Pa. It's alright though. I'll be fine. Just keep the rest of them from wandering off too far." He said before looking back at Diana and Bruce. "Please, follow me."

Bruce and Diana followed closely behind as Superman led them over to a barn, where he showed them in before closing and locking the door behind him. He kept one hand on the door with his back facing his two guests as he looked no where specific. "How?" He asked after a few moments of silence. "How did you know that name?"

Bruce had a look of confusion on his face as he wasn't exactly sure what had just happened. Diana however seemed to be filled with confidence that she knew what she was doing as she stepped closer to the farmer's son and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm afraid it's a very long story Kal, but I know who you are and where you come from." She replied as he turned around and took her in for the first time.

"That's not my name." He pushed. "I'm just Clark."

"You and I both know that's not true." Diana fired back. "We also know that you were in Gotham City for a time."

"How could you…." Clark began before looking at her partner more closely. "So Bruce told you then."

"I told her about the rumors I'd heard about a vigilante hero that was fighting to bring the city back from the brink of its own despair." Bruce clarified. "Diana here was the one that was able to track you down. Although it seems that she knows more than she led me to believe."

"Why did you come?" Clark asked.

"I was hoping that you'd be willing to help." Diana answered only to see Kal's head drop instantly. This was clearly not the man that she'd known, but just a shell of what he once was. "Why do you lower your head so Kal? You're the most powerful being on the planet, and virtually invulnerable."

"All that power still wasn't enough." Clark explained as he began to walk away from Diana. His head was still hung low. My….my birth father….he left me a message that said I'd be able to change this world. I thought that he meant for the better, not the worse." Clark pulled open a heavy door to reveal a hidden room. Inside of it was a small spacecraft along with a black and grey suit that had a silver "S" held inside of a diamond shape. His hand delicately ran across the symbol on the suit before he pulled it back as if it'd burned him to the touch. "Hope. That's what I thought I was going to bring to the world, but in the end I only made it worse."

"What are you talking about?" Diana said. Bruce was stunned into silence by what he saw before him. He'd found out that the one that had been believed to be a hero for Gotham was indeed an alien after all. "Why would you stop fighting the evils of this world when you have such strength?"

"You wouldn't understand." Clark said as he shied away. Bruce was the last to leave the room with the spacecraft, and he tried to close the door, but found that despite the amount of effort, he couldn't get it to even budge. Clark then walked back over and easily pushed the door closed.

"Diana seems to have you pegged, Clark." Bruce commented. "You were doing so well in the city. It still needs someone like you. It's gotten worse since you left. My family's done everything we could to try and help, but we just can't make a difference like you can."

Diana was glad that she was out of Bruce's sight upon hearing that. She couldn't stop the look on her face that basically read how even Bruce wasn't aware of what he was capable of. She wanted to give hope back to the most hopeful man that she knew, but she knew that doing so in front of Bruce would only cause him grief. She had to get Kal to talk to her in private, and she didn't want to mince words or waste any more time than necessary. "Bruce." She called out while looking Kal directly in the eye. "I need to have a moment alone with Kal please."

Bruce had a truly disappointed look on his face. What had he just done? He'd led a beautiful woman right to the man that she described as the most powerful being on the planet. He'd led her right to someone who'd actually made a real difference in a lost city. And now she wanted him to leave her alone with this man. He couldn't help the envious streak that shot up his spine, nor could he hide it from appearing on his face before he turned away and headed out of the barn without speaking so much as a single word to either of them. Diana waited until the door was shut behind Bruce before she broke the silence between the two powerful heroes. "This world isn't the way it's supposed to be Kal." She started. "You were never meant to save Gotham. You were actually supposed to become the champion of another city."

"How can you say this after what I've done?" Kal responded in utter disbelief.

"What is this terrible thing that you speak of Kal?" Diana asked.

"I…I created something." Kal choked out. "Something so purely evil and it's all my fault."

"What evil?" Diana asked before it donned on her. "You were involved with the creation of the Joker weren't you?"

Kal nodded affirmatively at her discovery. "I was just trying to stop him. He was just a petty crook then, but when he fell into that acid, he became so much more evil. If I hadn't been there, he'd have never fallen into that acid in the first place. Can't you see? He exists because of me. He's completely insane and nothing I do would ever stop him unless I'm willing to take his life. It's what he wants me to do too."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Diana asked. She was acutely aware of just how insane the clown was, but couldn't help being interested in what he'd done to cause Superman to give in.

"I tried to stop him." Kal explained. "Gift wrapped him, but he'd be back on the streets not even three days later and start up again. He told me that he'd keep coming back unless I stopped him permanently. If I take a life, then it makes me no better than he is, and I knew after a while that he was telling the truth. Nothing I do could stop him for long at all. And then to see that all of the other criminals were getting back out on the streets as quickly as I pulled them off of it. Finally when the city called for my arrest, I knew I'd done nothing to help it, and with my part in the Joker's creation I actually made it worse. It was best for me to just leave. The world isn't ready for someone like me. It doesn't want to be saved."

"Kal." Diana called to him as she placed her hand back on his shoulder to offer comfort and strength. She had to tell him everything. It was the only way he'd have a chance of coming back. "As I said before, you weren't meant to be there in Gotham. The whole world is changed, and I've been sent to correct it. Believe me please Kal, this world is worth saving, but I have to fix what's been changed to correct everything."

"What are you talking about?" Clark asked.

"In order for you to understand, you need to know exactly who I am." Diana began to explain. "I realize this may be hard to comprehend, but please don't be quick to judge until I've finished what I have to say. My name is Diana, and I am from an island called Themyscira. I am an Amazon with gifts granted from the gods of Olympus."

Clark's face revealed that he didn't believe a word, and as a means of displaying that she was being honest she floated in the air and grabbed him by the hand before squeezing as hard as she could. Clark winced in obvious discomfort and she continued. "The gods saved me from the changes in time and protected my memories of that timeline to aid me in this mission. I am to find the persons responsible for changing the timeline and repair the damage that they've caused."

"And…in your timeline….I haven't created that madness?" Clark asked, a little hope beginning to shimmer in his eyes.

"I wish I could offer you the comfort that the Joker doesn't exist in the real timeline, but I hope you can take solace in the fact that you weren't there to have any fault in his creation." She replied. "In my world, you are one of my very best friends, and that is why I came to you for help."

"What happens if you fail?" Clark asked.

"If that were to happen then eventually the gods would release their protection on my memories, and I would be returned to Themyscira while the world slowly crumbles. The ripples in time that this person is causing will only increase with each change that they make. The potential that this world's end would come is a possible outcome."

"How will you find him?" Clark continued to question.

"I intend to use my memories to locate changes in the timeline and look for any possible patterns or signals that could lead me to this man. I ask that you return with us to Gotham. It's the first location where I've seen a great change."

"I don't know." Clark commented. "How can you know that you need to be there just because of one anomaly?"

"It's not just one." Diana responded. "That city has lost its champion just as Metropolis has lost you in this timeline. I've also seen that heroes from my timeline aside from Green Lanterns seem to be frowned upon, and that is why I've not revealed my powers to the likes of Bruce. He's become a friend in both timelines."

"I…" Clark began before swallowing the lump that had grown in his throat. "I…just can't go back. Not there. I'm sorry Diana."

Before she could respond Clark opened the door and left her standing in the barn all alone. Diana couldn't believe how far her friend had fallen. He'd truly lost his way thanks to the maniacal clown tearing apart his psyche. She would have to ask Batman how he withstood standing up to a monster like that all those years. Perhaps it was why he held such more violent rules while he patrolled Gotham as compared to being involved on League missions. Surely there was something that could help to explain it.

Diana walked out of the barn to see Bruce sending the production crew away. With the discovery of Kal, there was no need to keep up the ruse. Diana looked around for her sullen best friend but couldn't find him anywhere. She offered a prayer to her gods that Kal finds some form of peace for the demons that were torturing him and had beaten him until he was a broken man. With Kal gone, there was nothing left to stick around the Kent's farm for. She knew that at the moment Bruce was her only chance at having some help, but she had no idea how to tell him what his consequences would be if he did help her. Perhaps she could garner information about what happened to that moment in his life as an eight year old boy. That might also give her an opening if there was someone in that alley that she would know wasn't supposed to be. It was a long shot, but still her best opportunity at that point.

Diana walked up towards Bruce to hear him finishing an apology to the Kents and promising to keep their secret safe. She made her farewells and asked Bruce if he was ready to return to Gotham. He didn't answer her verbally, but did walk over to the car and sat in the driver seat. She was slightly surprised at the fact that he didn't offer to open the door for her as he had every other time up to that point, but decided to just leave it at that. The ride back to the airfield was just as silent as their departure. Diana was processing about how broken Kal had been from the results of dealing with the Joker. She still couldn't understand how a human with no super powers whatsoever, even as insane as the Joker is, could so quickly bring Kal down to the point of submission. He was supposed to be the strongest of the Justice League, but now it seemed that he was more simply the most powerful in strength only. His will to fight against such insanity apparently could only take him so far before he'd become virtually stripped by that insanity. But she'd seen him fight the Joker on numerous occasions in her own timeline, and never did he seem to even waver in the slightest against that madman.

It was then that Diana realized that of all the missions where Batman was not involved, she could never recall a single one with the Joker that he wasn't right there fighting along side them. She'd always just assumed that it had to do with the Joker being from Gotham City, but perhaps there was more to it than that. Bruce had gone toe to toe with the Joker on his own more times than she could recall, and he never once seemed to waver in his quest to continue on despite whatever the Joker tried to do. Those thoughts caused her to realize just how little she still knew about her dark teammate. She wanted to know more about him now more than ever before, and that caused her to finally look over to Bruce, who she realized had remained silent the entire time. He was staring forward and his hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles had turned white some time ago. She knew that he was upset, but over what she wasn't sure. "Is something wrong Bruce?" She asked; concern evident in her tone.

Bruce continued to stare forward for a few moments before taking a couple of breaths and allowed his grip to lessen. Then he glanced over at her, and she noticed that the hard look had left him. "No." He finally answered, although she could tell that he was trying to hide whatever it was that had been bothering him.

"Please Bruce, don't lie to me." Diana requested. "I can still see that something's bothering you. There's no need to hide it from me."

"It's nothing Diana, really." Bruce still defied. "You shouldn't be concerned about it. I'm just ready to head back to Gotham. I've had my fill of visiting the farming life."

Diana felt compelled to reach into her bag and pull out the Lasso of Truth because she knew he was still hiding what it was that had been bothering him, but that would mean letting out that she was more than just a woman to him. She wasn't quite sure just how he'd react to finding out that she had powers, let alone the fact that he could begin prying into just what she was really up to. Still though, there were other ways that she'd picked up in her time away from Themyscira that could get the answers she was seeking. She'd have to employ that on the flight back however as Bruce pulled to a stop in the airfield where his company jet awaited them. "We can continue this conversation on the flight back then." Diana barked. "Perhaps when we get closer to your city, your tongue will loosen up and allow you to be honest with me."

"Diana, please just drop it." Bruce huffed. "Yes, there was something that bothered me, but it's over now. We're going back to Gotham and apparently _Kal_ isn't. I'm fine with that. Really."

The way that Bruce used Kal's name tipped her off to what it was. There seemed to be venom dripping off the word as it left Bruce's mouth. Something Kal had done or said was the likely culprit. She waited to continue and studied Bruce as they boarded the jet. He was beginning to get over what it was that had set him off, but it still lingered enough to show in his body language. They both sat quietly, but that only lasted until shortly after the jet had taken flight. "Did Kal say or do something that upset you Bruce?" She started again.

Bruce faced her giving a look that said he certainly didn't want to continue with this conversation. "No." Bruce stated. "Aside from the fact that he gave up on Gotham, he didn't do anything to bother me."

"Then what in Hera's name is it?" Diana called out before realizing she'd finally let something slip about her that she hadn't intended.

Bruce had a quizzical look on his face now that had drained all the anger away seemingly. "Hera?" He asked rhetorically at first. "Who's Hera?"

"She's…." Diana tried to think of something quickly, but nothing came to her aside from the truth. After a few seconds of silence, she sighed and decided to continue. "Hera, queen of Olympus and wife to Zeus."

"You called out the name of a Goddess from Greek mythology?" Bruce asked.

"Who says it's a myth?" Diana answered with a defying question of her own.

"Wait, so you're telling me that all other forms of religion are wrong?" Bruce inquired.

"I never said that either." Diana again responded defiantly. "All I'm saying is what I believe in. I'm not questioning anyone else's faith unless they wish to question my own."

Bruce halted in his argument against Diana's religious beliefs after her response. He thought about it for a moment. There were certainly crazier things that people could believe in, and she certainly wasn't trying to force her beliefs onto anyone. "Sorry." He apologized. "I didn't mean to offend you."

Hearing Bruce apologize was still incredibly foreign to Diana's ears. If she had to spend too much time completing her mission, she'd likely hear more apologies in that time span than the rest of Bruce's life once things were set back to normal. "Apology accepted Bruce." She responded. "But you still need to tell me what it was that upset you."

"You're not going to let this go are you?" Bruce questioned rhetorically. "Fine. I was….concerned when he was alone with you."

"Why would you…." Diana began to ask before she stopped herself. She didn't want to know the answer to that question, and thought it best to finally drop the subject entirely. "Never mind. I can see why you'd be concerned, especially after finding out about how strong Kal really is."

The closer that they got to Gotham, the more normal and friendly their conversation became. That was until the point that Bruce came to the realization of the hour that they'd returned. He didn't realize how much time they'd actually spent in Kansas before returning, and it was now late in the evening. Much too late for them to be out and about in Gotham City with no form of protection. Considering that he'd driven them to the airport himself, there'd be no one there to pick them up, but Diana once again didn't show any fear about heading to the car in the parking garage. Bruce grew increasingly quiet as they walked further and further away from the entrance of the airport. It was dark in the garage, and if he were to be asked, it was a little too dark there. He stopped instantly at the sound of something pinging off the floor as though someone had dropped something metallic onto the concrete. Diana sensed Bruce's uneasiness and came to a stop too right in front of him. She looked around for a moment, but couldn't see or hear anything that concerned her. Bruce began walking again at that point as well, so he apparently passed the noise off as a non-threat. When he saw his car parked right where he'd left it, he though that they were home free, but those hopes were summarily dashed by the sound of a gun being cocked behind them. "Getting in kinda late don't ya think?" A thug asked as they turned around to see a group of thugs with white face paint standing before them.

"You'll have to pay the Gotham City entry tax." Another thug announced, followed by the chuckles and laughter from the rest of the crew.

"He lives in Gotham." Diana responded as she stepped in front of Bruce even though he tried to hold her back. "We owe you nothing, and I advise you to stop now before you get hurt."

Half of the thugs bent over in laughter upon hearing the threat from this super model. She obviously didn't know who she was dealing with, and that was going to be a hard lesson that she would have to learn quickly before she stopped breathing. Three thugs took a shot at her, and all they saw were her arms moving rapidly followed by three ting sounds. She was still standing before them in a defensive stance, and they all began firing on her. They weren't going to fail and have to face the Joker's wrath because of some bimbo. Little did they know how far off base they were with their assumption of who they were up against.

Diana took flight and charged at the crew, attracting their attention and more importantly their gunfire solely on her. She made short work of five men as soon as they were within her reach, tossing each one of them into a concrete wall hard enough to leave them in an unconscious heap. That left two more immediately in front of her, and they wisely dropped their guns and took off in the opposite direction. It was then that she heard the sound of a fist making contact against skin and bone. She quickly turned to see Bruce standing there with a gun in his hand and a thug on the ground by his feet. Even though he might not be Batman in this timeline, she saw that he was still a warrior in spirit, and that brought a smile to her face.

Bruce dropped the gun onto the ground as he looked into Diana's eyes. Although at first he was frightened by the situation, he was also quickly surprised to find that this beautiful woman had powers to combat the evils of Gotham. It was no wonder she was unafraid. He'd never seen anyone move as fast as she did, and to see her toss the first mugger like he was nothing more than a paperweight across the parking garage only to be followed quickly by four others. It was an amazing sight to see. He saw though that another thug was moving to take a shot from behind Diana, and that was when he went into action. He quickly grabbed the gun that the man was beginning to take aim with as Diana dealt with the other two remaining criminals, and his MMA training kicked in for him as he slammed the elbow of his free arm down onto the thug's before ducking a clumsy punch that was sent his way. He quickly followed that with an uppercut that connected solidly on the thug's jaw. It was then that Diana turned to see her friend standing there victorious. Adrenaline was pumping through him as he'd never experienced something so exhilarating before. "That was….amazing." Bruce commented. "How long have you had powers?"

"I was granted powers by my patron gods and goddesses on Olympus." Diana responded as she started walking toward Bruce and the car. "Ready to go home?"

"Definitely." Bruce announced as he unlocked and opened her door for her. It was then that the adrenaline began to subside, and was being replaced by…pain? Why was he feeling pain? He reached under his jacket to investigate the source of that pain and felt something warm and moist to the touch. He was then overwhelmed with a feeling of dizziness as he tried to use the car door to steady himself, but it was too late as he fell to the ground.

"Bruce!" Diana screamed as she climbed back out of the passenger seat to see him pull his hand out from under his jacket, revealing that it was covered in crimson red. She cradled his head as she checked on his vitals. "Stay with me Bruce." She pleaded as he closed his eyes and his world went black.


	8. Chapter 8: Surgery And A Premonition

Bruce goes under the knife in the hospital and Diana seeks out answers about some inner turmoil.

Chapter 8: Surgery And A Premonition

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><p>Thomas and Martha rushed into the emergency room of Gotham General Hospital. Alfred had dropped them off at the main Emergency Room doors so that they could get in right away while he parked the car before meeting back up with them. The nurse at the main desk inside the ER instructed them that there was no word yet on their son's condition, and pointed them over to a more private waiting area. Thomas waited where they were for Alfred to come in while Martha went ahead into the room. It was there that she saw Diana sitting on a chair in the room with a lost look on her face. Her clothes and hands were covered in blood, but it wasn't just blood; it was Bruce's blood. When the door closed behind her, the sound seemed to snap Diana out of a trance as she looked up to see tears streaming down Martha's face. "I'm so sorry Mrs. Wayne." She said as she stood up and faced Bruce's mother. She was surprised when Martha dove into her, wrapping her arms around Diana as she wept while asking anyone that would listen about her concerns over her son's wellbeing. She kept repeating my boy, my poor boy followed by why over and over again until Thomas and Alfred came into the room with them.<p>

Thomas took his wife from Diana's hands and offered what comfort he could. That only lasted until his wife finally calmed enough to realize that her husband had more clearance than a standard patient's parent. She started off by asking for him to go and find out something, but it quickly escalated into pleading. Thomas was concerned himself, but he knew that the best thing they could do for their son was to not interfere. If he was still in surgery, that meant the doctors needed to be able to focus on what they were doing. Diana eventually returned to her seated position, cupping her face in her own hands. She was completely disheveled from the moments that had gone on as her mind continued to go over the scenario again and again. She felt completely responsible for Bruce's current condition. Perhaps if she'd just not acted then they would've both been fine, but her first instinct was to subdue the criminals and she'd never questioned that instinct until now. Now she almost felt an understanding for what Kal had been talking about. Every attempted move to stand up against the evils seemed to backfire.

Minutes felt like hours as Diana and the Wayne's were forced to wait. They were all remaining deadly quiet in the room until Alfred knelt down in front of Diana. He'd been watching her the whole time, and saw how utterly lost she appeared to be. It seemed like a piece of herself had been ripped away judging from the pained expression that was on her face as she stared at nothing in particular. He knelt down though because of something else that he'd seen, and knew that she needed someone at that moment. "Miss Diana." He gently said as he placed a comforting hand on her knee to gain her attention. "I'm quite sure that Master Bruce will pull through. The lad has always proven to be quite stubborn at times, and I'm sure this shall be no different. But perhaps while we wait, it would be appropriate to wash some of the Master's blood from your hands. While we can't do much for your clothes, I believe that Master Bruce would want you to seem prepared for when he is ready to take in visitors."

For the first time that night, Diana actually noticed the blood stains on her. She had Bruce's blood on her hands, and that realization was almost too much to take in. She shakily stood and allowed Alfred to escort her to the ladies room. Once inside, she walked up to the sinks, standing in front of a mirror and she noticed that she'd managed to smear some of his blood from her hands onto her face at some point. She began with her hands, lathering them and scrubbing furiously, never wanting the red tint to be off of her more so than at this particular time. She scrubbed continuously for several minutes until she began to feel pain on her hands. She glanced up and saw tears trailing down her cheeks, and at that moment she stopped herself. This wasn't like her at all. Why was she acting so irrationally? She'd stood beside and fought with friends that had fallen in the heat of battle before and not been affected like this. She began to question why until she remembered that in this world, in this timeline Bruce wasn't a warrior that she'd fought beside like all the others that she'd lost along the way with her mission. Bruce was just Bruce, an innocent man, a good man that didn't deserve to be gunned down. He wasn't a warrior that was prepared for the time that he might fall in battle, and he was her friend. To try and calm herself, she focused on her breathing until her emotions were back in control before wiping the tears away and rinsing the dried blood off of her cheeks. She grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and wiped her face and hands dry before giving herself a once over in the mirror. Satisfied that she was ready to take on the emotions of waiting to find out her friend's condition, she silently offered a quick prayer to her gods and goddesses before she opened the bathroom door to find that Alfred was still there waiting for her. She couldn't help but to feel instantly better upon seeing him there. Even in this timeline Alfred was an incredible person. They both returned to the waiting room where Martha and Thomas had taken seats and Martha was resting her head on Thomas' shoulder. He was also holding her hand, and Diana knew then just what effect this loving couple had imprinted into Bruce, even in just eight short years. She bared witness to it herself in just two days time so there was no doubt in her mind that even as a child Bruce would've seen it clearly.

Alfred offered Diana a seat and when she accepted, he chose to sit down next to the young woman. She was still astounded by the calming effect that Alfred seemed to possess, and they stayed in that position for the next half hour until a doctor finally showed up. Thomas stood to face the doctor while Martha held her hands in front of her mouth as she remained seated. Diana and Alfred both joined Thomas in standing up as the doctor shut the door to the room and stood before the four of them. "You're son was really lucky tonight Mr. and Mrs. Wayne." The doctor began. "The bullet ended up piercing Bruce's gall bladder and damaging some of the hepatic arteries. There was some internal bleeding on top of the amount of blood he'd already lost before we got to him, and he was extremely lucky that this young lady acted as she did. If she hadn't been there to get him to us as quickly as she did, then it's very likely the news wouldn't have been so positive. He's passed the worst of it now, and we were able to stabilize him enough to place him into recovery. In a couple of weeks he should make a full recovery."

"Can we go see him?" Martha asked.

"For a short time, but Bruce is going to need to rest as he recovers." The doctor answered before leading them to Bruce's room in the recovery section.

Martha wasted no time at all in immediately moving over to the side of Bruce's bed, grabbing his hand in hers. Thomas approached next, but before he went up to the bedside, he grabbed Bruce's medical chart and flipped through all of the information it had. When he was satisfied, he stood next to his wife and gazed upon his sleeping son. Alfred and Diana approached the other bedside and looked upon Bruce as he seemed to be resting comfortably. Diana reached down and interlaced her fingers with Bruce's other hand, and soon after that she felt him slightly squeezing her hand. Bruce's eyes then began to flutter for a moment before finally opening up. Diana smiled brilliantly at him when his eyes found hers. "Are….you alright?" He asked.

"You gave us all a scare tonight son." Thomas stated as Martha was too emotional at the time for words.

"Sorry dad." Bruce apologized as he began to take in his surroundings and realized where he was. "What's the prognosis?"

"You'll make a full recovery." Thomas answered. "You were lucky that Diana was with you. According to the doctor, if she hadn't gotten you here as quickly as she did, then you might not have survived."

"You need to be more careful." Martha finally managed to get out, even though she was still choked up by the emotions running through her. "I don't know what we'd do if we lost you Bruce."

"Sorry…mom." Bruce rasped out before hissing when he attempted to adjust his position. The pain medication that he'd been given was helping, but it wasn't enough to completely mask all of the pain.

"You need to rest Bruce." Diana said as she released his hand and moved her hand up to gently glide the back of her knuckles down his cheek.

Bruce turned his head to look directly at Diana, and when his eyes locked onto hers once again Diana could see something in them change ever so slightly. What she could see in his eyes now, she'd seen before but from the Bruce of her timeline. It was a look of clarifying realization, and she knew what that likely meant. She took a step back away from his bedside as she knew that he was about to ask questions that she wasn't sure she wanted to answer, but before she could leave with the excuse of giving him and his family some privacy, he began to speak again. "Diana's right." He said. "Before that though, if it's alright with you mom and dad, I'd need a moment with Diana."

"Of….of course son." Martha said. "But we aren't leaving and we'll be right here when you wake up."

Bruce turned back to his parents as Martha kissed him on the forehead before joining Thomas and Alfred as they walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. Diana stayed in the room, knowing that she was going to have some answers to provide whether she wanted to or not, but the hard stare that was coming from Bruce wasn't helping. He wasn't supposed to have that stare, but perhaps the Bat still lived deep inside of this man, and was just waiting for a reason to come out. The silence in the room was also adding to the awkward feeling until Bruce eventually broke it. "You have powers." He stated. It wasn't a question at all.

"Yes." Diana answered as she wrapped her arms around herself, wondering if he'd turn her away now that he knew she was something that wasn't accepted as good in this world.

"I know how you got me here." Bruce continued.

"I had no choice Bruce." Diana countered quickly. "You were losing too much blood, and I was afraid that I'd lose you. I couldn't risk getting stuck in traffic or waiting for an ambulance to arrive."

Bruce sat there silently for a minute as he processed what she'd said to him before he replied. "Thank you." He grunted out. "But what I don't understand is why you went searching for the Gotham vigilante when you could've just taken over for him."

"It's…." Diana began before pausing. She was conflicted as she wanted to tell him the whole truth but didn't at the same time. She knew though that she was going to have to give him something at the least. "It's because my gods have ordered me to carry out a mission."

"What is this mission, and how is it more important than saving all the innocent lives in this city?" Bruce asked.

"Because indirectly it would save many lives in Gotham City as well." Diana offered. "But it's much larger than that."

"Tell me." Bruce ordered, sounding more and more like the Bat. Diana flinched slightly and Bruce knew that he was being harsh towards the woman that had in essence saved his life. He let go of a calming breath and his facial features softened as he tried to sit up. Diana was quick to move back to his side and gently press him back down, silently reprimanding him for trying something so foolish, but he'd anticipated her response and grabbed her wrists before she could back away. Diana looked down at Bruce's hands gripping her by the bracers, but to his surprise didn't fight to get away. He then used the hand that didn't have monitoring equipment attached to it and reached up. He winced as the movement brought him pain but he still didn't stop until his hand was on the back of her neck. He gently pulled her closer, and Diana didn't fight as she was confused by what was happening. He didn't stop pulling until their noses were about to touch. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come off that way. You saved my life, and I wanted to say thank you." He said softly.

Diana knew what was happening at that moment as Bruce closed his eyes and began to pull gently again to close the last couple of inches that their lips were apart. She knew that she should stop this from happening, knew that it would only make things more difficult, but there was something inside of her that was fighting despite that knowledge. There was something inside of her that actually wanted this, and it was that something that won out in the end as she closed her eyes and gently pressed her lips to his. The kiss was slow yet intimate as Diana felt her knees becoming weak. Eventually though she ended the kiss, but followed it up with a much quicker kiss again before backing away enough to where they could look into each other's eyes. "Rest." She requested. "I give you my word that I'll be here in the morning when you wake. Then when the timing is right, I'll give you the answers that you seek."

Bruce smiled at her slightly before laying his head back down onto the pillows of his bed. Diana ran her fingers gently through his hair, and in a few minutes he fell asleep. She stayed there a minute longer just watching him while at the same time wondering just what it was that had been coming over her. She needed to get some answers of her own to better understand what was happening, and that meant she had to leave for a short time. Reluctantly she stood up from her previous position of leaning over the bedside rail and walked out of the room to find Bruce's parents standing out in the hallway. "He's asleep." She announced as she closed the door behind her.

Thomas and Martha quickly moved over to her and wrapped her in a group hug. "Thank you." Thomas said as Martha was letting tears of joy run down her face. "There's no way to show just how much we appreciate you saving our son."

"You love him." Diana responded. "That's more than enough." Diana stayed in the hug for a few seconds before she noticed the crestfallen feeling beginning to overtake her. She stepped back closer to Alfred than Bruce's parents, and then excused herself before making her way to the rooftop. It was thundering as though the sky were threatening a downpour at any moment. The air was moist and cool to the touch of her skin, and she embraced that cooling feeling as it gave off a sort of refreshing sense to her. She then peered over to the parking area and spotted Bruce's car, recalling that moment when she carried him inside the car through the air to the hospital. Bruce's words in his hospital room obviously meant that he regained his consciousness during the short flight. She'd taken the car as an attempt to maintain her cover. It was a risk flying through the Gotham airspace with a vehicle above her head, but Bruce's safety was the most concern to her at the time. She was fortunate in that she hadn't been spotted by anyone else when she set the car down and proceeded to pull Bruce out of it. After she had him out of the car, she no longer cared about being spotted when she saw how pale his complexion had become, screaming at the top of her lungs for someone to help.

Once the doctors had taken Bruce away was when she knew that his parents needed to know what had happened. She guessed correctly that the number to Wayne Manor was the same as it was in her own timeline. Yet another thing that Bruce hadn't allowed to be changed. She had the unfortunate experience of having to relay bad news to family members before, but this was different. Before there was no emotional connection aside from the disappointment at not being able to save everyone as a member of the Justice League. Three years had given all of the League members a hardened exterior over time that made it easier to do, and even that had failed Diana this time around. She knew the victim, and knew his parents this time. She liked Bruce very much and found that she liked his parents as well even though she'd only been around them for a few hours through the last two days. Calling Bruce's parents had been much more difficult than she recalled any other call being made. Thinking about that call only furthered her desire to have questions answered, and it was with that thought that she dropped down to Bruce's car when the coast was clear, and grabbed her duffle bag from the back seat before taking flight again. She flew around for a while until she found a quiet area in a park that would serve for what she needed to do. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the idols she'd carried with her from Themyscira and set them with candles onto a park gazebo that she'd chosen to help in serving as an altar.

When everything was prepared, Diana kneeled before the makeshift altar and began to pray to her patron gods and goddesses. She remained knelt down as she'd requested guidance, and patiently was waiting in the hopes that her prayer would be answered. However after more than five minutes it became apparent that those answers would not be coming to her. Reluctantly she blew out the candles and returned the idols to her bag before gathering the candles once the wax had cooled and hardened enough. She then started walking through the park as she made her way back in the direction of the hospital. Before she got to the park exits though someone did decide to come before her, it just wasn't someone that she wanted to see. "What's a pretty girl like you doing out here this late at night?" A would be mugger said as he appeared from an unlit area in the park. "Why don't you make this easy and give me that bag of yours."

A fire began to burn brilliantly inside of Diana at that moment. Of course being out in Gotham at night on her own, she should've expected to cross paths with a mugger, and that person would choose this night of all nights to try and rob her. She snarled as she looked up to take in her attacker. He was holding a knife in his hand and when she took in the environment, Diana knew that he was alone. "I've already come close to losing a valued friend because of people like you." She seethed through clenched teeth. "Normally I'd be merciful of someone like you, but you picked a bad night to cross my path."

"Shut up and give me the bag." The mugger commanded as he lunged forward. With the speed of Hermes, Diana moved and grabbed hold of the mugger's wrist and twisted it to the point that the pain caused him to drop it to the ground. "Okay, okay." He pleaded. "I'm s…sorry. Just let…let me go."

Diana grabbed the mugger by the throat and brought him face to face with her. "That's. Not. Good enough." She seethed before making a sudden move that was followed immediately by the sound of bones breaking. The mugger screamed in pain as he dropped to his knees, but Diana wasn't done with him yet. She slammed a fist into the man's face instantly knocking him unconscious, and then she decided to alter her course with a short pit stop before returning to the hospital.

Some police officers were leaning against their cruiser as they enjoyed their fresh coffee just outside of the precinct. That was until they heard a thud directly behind them. They both turned around to see an unconscious man on top of their cruiser. They both looked at each other for a moment and then up into the sky, but found nothing. One of the officers then walked to the side of the car and started pulling the man off of its top as the other prepared to help hold the weight of the man when he came off the car. Once they'd settled the man onto the ground, they performed a search and discovered the knife as well as a few wallets on him.

Diana landed back on the hospital rooftop and made her way back inside. She had given her word that she was going to be there when Bruce woke up, and she was going to keep her promise to him. She checked on Bruce quickly to make sure he was still alright and then went into the waiting room she'd been in during his surgery and found that his parents and Alfred were all in there as well. Thomas and Alfred were still asleep, and Martha looked as though she'd just given in to sleep, using her husband as a pillow to rest her head on. Alfred began to stand until Diana gestured for him to stay seated. She found a place that would suffice and made herself as comfortable as she could, turning sideways in a chair, and using the armrests to prop her legs and head up. It was somewhat cramped, but she could get some rest at least. It took some time, but eventually she managed to fall asleep.

~~ Sometime later ~~

Diana was walking through a fog filled field. She had no idea where she was, but for some reason she knew that she had to continue moving in the direction that she was headed. Up over small hills and into beautiful valleys, she continued traipsing along until the fog cleared and revealed an ivory colored structure on top of the next hill. She attempted to fly up to the top of the hill, but found that her powers had left her in this place. Determined to get to the top, she marched up a worn path, and once she was at the top she immediately bowed down at the sight before her. "My Lady Athena, my Lady Aphrodite." She said from her bowed position.

"Rise Diana of Themyscira." Athena called out. "You have summoned us, and we've come to answer your calling. What troubles you so child?"

"I've found something that has changed from the cause of the mission I was set upon to correct." Diana explained. "I can see that some things are better off in the original timeline, but with one man in particular, after all the torment and torture, I find myself conflicted about what to do. He of all men has certainly earned this life without such tragedy around him."

"You care for this mortal." Athena surmised. "Do not question what the fates have in store for any mortals Diana. Some are predestined to greater things that require tragedy and what you call torture to achieve them. Do not question your mission. You need not reminding that if this is not corrected, even this world as you are coming to know it will cease to exist. These changes will in time lead to the end of this world if you do not complete your tasks."

"I…I understand." Diana despondently replied. She knew that Athena was correct, and she would complete her mission even knowing that she was now going to have to play a direct part in Bruce's parents being murdered. A bright blinding light began to emanate around the goddesses, and Diana had to shield her eyes with her arms due to the brightness of it.

As the light dissipated, Diana lowered her eyes to reveal a shock. "You love him." Aphrodite pointed out. "But which him?"

"I…hardly know this version of Bruce." Diana responded.

Aphrodite laughed at Diana's comment as she walked around the Amazon princess. "You may be able to hide from yourself child, but not from the goddess of love." She stated as she came to a stop in front of Diana, and placed a gentle hand on Diana's cheek. "I'm not surprised though with your choice. This mortal is nothing if not brave and selfless, and this version does seem to be much more willing to lead with his emotions. I can see why there is such conflict in you regarding him. You fear that he might resent you should he ever come to find out that you allowed his parents murder to occur in order to complete your mission. Love is such an interesting emotion for mortals. It's so powerful and yet so unpredictable at the same time."

Diana didn't want to question her goddess, but she didn't love Bruce. She couldn't. He was a man and Amazons did not entertain intimate relationships aside from long ago in the past when Amazons were permitted leaves of absence to propagate their race after times of war. With the island one of peace since before her time, there'd never been the need for procreation and thus men were deemed unnecessary. Aphrodite laughed again as she returned to the ivory structure. "Your thoughts are amusing Diana." She said. "Certainly misguided but amusing nonetheless. You are a good judge of character, but you must trust your heart at times."

Another flash of light appeared and then Diana found that she was left alone. Even the ivory structure had disappeared. She wasn't sure where to go from that point. She also didn't know what to do with the information that her goddesses had given her. She already knew that she'd follow her mission through to the end even if there were going to be some unpleasant results at the end of it. She was sure that Batman would never forgive her for not taking the chance of allowing his parents to be saved, but there was no point in trying to argue that point. Her mission held a larger importance than that of two mortals, even if they were the parents of the man that she…no. She didn't love Bruce. She respected him as a fellow warrior in arms, and now she had a deeper respect because of just how much of a difference that he'd make for his city as that warrior.

Regardless of what Bruce thought, one man was making a vast difference, but it wasn't just any man. Kal had tried to save Gotham from itself and had given up because of his involvement in the Joker's creation. Bruce had never let anyone stop him from making it a safer place to live, not even the Joker. She could never recall a time where she couldn't walk around the city without an attempted mugging taking place during the real timeline. And without Batman as the city's protector it seemed that she couldn't step into the city now without some criminal trying to do something in her presence. Gotham City needed Batman, but in order for there to be a Batman, Thomas and Martha Wayne had to be murdered. Even if Diana spent the time training him, by the time he'd even come close to the man that she knew in her timeline, he'd be far too old. Bruce had trained and educated himself for almost twenty years by the time she'd met him. He was a hardened warrior with an exterior protected by scarring from a tragic past. As much as she didn't want to be, she knew that she'd have to be directly involved with that happening to him again. She only hoped that should it come to that, this Bruce would understand and her Bruce would one day see fit to forgive her for what she had to do.

In order to get the mission over with though, Diana first had to get out of this realm that she was in. The only path she could see was the one that she'd taken to reach her goddesses, so she chose to return following that same path and hoped that it would provide the exit back into the real world. She walked down the hill and into and out of the wooded areas and clearings just as she had when she arrived. She was walking through a fog filled field where she could barely see in front of her face when she heard it. "Miss Diana." A voice from out of nowhere called out. She spun around looking for the man that had said it. It was definitely Alfred's voice. That much she was sure of. Then she felt something warm touch her on the shoulder and looked down to see nothing there. "Miss Diana." The voice said again. This time she closed her eyes tightly so that she could focus on the direction of the voice, and could then feel a kink beginning to grow in her neck. When she opened her eyes again to see if she could discover the cause, she was suddenly back in the hospital waiting room. Alfred was kneeling next to her with a hand on her shoulder and a pleasant smile on his face. "I apologize for waking you miss, but Master Thomas wanted me to inform you that Master Bruce has just woken up."

Diana sat up from her position in the chair she'd been laying in, and worked the kink out of her neck before following Alfred into Bruce's room. The first thing that she noticed was that the color had returned to his face. It was apparent that the doctors had successfully repaired all of the damage caused by the bullet and Bruce was well on his way to recovery. She was instantly curious as to how quickly he'd want to leave the hospital. Her Bruce would've been preparing to head back out on patrol that same night, and her question was answered by Bruce's mother. "Are you sure honey?" She asked.

"Yes." Bruce answered before turning to see Alfred and Diana. He smiled briefly and then faced his mother again. "As soon as dad gets permission, I'm ready to go home."


	9. Chapter 9: Do A Little Research

Diana focuses on her mission and starts searching for more evidence to help in fixing what's been changed.

Chapter 9: Do A Little Research

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><p><em>It appears that the rumors of vigilantism are once again running rampant through the streets of Gotham City, and this reporter is on the record as saying it's about time. I for one am showing my support for someone that wants to make a positive difference in this city. After years and years of failure, for the first time in recent memory….<em>

Diana turned off the television in her room after listening to a small portion of the morning news. She had to head down to the training area for Bruce's physical therapy. Things had started off sluggishly for him after returning home to the Manor so early. It was clear for the next few days that he'd bitten off more than he could chew, but he was as stubborn as ever in his refusal to return to the hospital. Instead he began to work on learning to conceal the pain that was evident on his features. By the third day, the only one that was still harping on him that he needed to take it easy was his mother. Alfred had returned to caring for all those in the Manor, and Thomas was working harder at Wayne Enterprises picking up the slack that was there with Bruce's absence. Martha had asked Diana to join in her argument with Bruce, but Diana knew better. Regardless of what timeline she was in, there was no changing Bruce's mind once it was made up. The only thing she could do was help him by monitoring his physical therapy and trying to ensure that he didn't push himself too hard.

Today Bruce planned to remove the protective bandaging wrapped around his torso so that the wound could breathe and then replace it with new gauze. While it was prudent to ensure that no infection was setting in, his insistence on not needing help was a nuisance to say the least for everyone around him. Regardless of how well he hid the pain and discomfort from others, Diana had dealt with the emotionless Batman, and this Bruce simply wasn't as well versed at hiding things. Thinking about that, Diana rolled over to look at the clock she had on the nightstand which revealed the late morning hour. She immediately jumped out of bed, scurrying over to the dresser for a sports bra and shorts to change into. How Batman could keep such late hours and still function on that little sleep was beyond her at that moment. Perhaps he was a Meta after all, and his power was the ability to go days with little to no sleep. She quickly changed and left her room in a rush, running through the halls while focusing on her enhanced hearing to ensure that she didn't accidently plow over someone in her path. As she burst came through the entrance, she halted immediately at what she saw before her.

There Bruce was on his own in the room that had been set up to go through his physical therapy. He was holding his right arm above his head while unwrapping the old bandages from his midsection. Diana couldn't stop herself from staring at the vision before her. She'd just confirmed again that Bruce wasn't as chiseled in this timeline as he was in the other, but he was still certainly no slouch either. There was definition of each muscle on his body still and no scars for the eye to see, but he was going to have his first when his wound did heal. She wondered just how hard he had to work for this physique, and that made her wonder just how much more grueling Batman's training regimen had to be. "Late night?" Bruce asked while trying to hide the sound of discomfort in his voice caused by his movements.

Diana forced herself to stop staring, and closed the distance before taking the bandaging from his hand. "You wouldn't be checking up on me now would you?" She teased as she removed the last of his bandage and began inspecting around the healing incision. "Your wound is healing nicely. I'd bet within a few weeks, you'll barely even be able to notice the scar that will be left behind."

"That'll just give me a trophy to show off when I tell of my _escape from danger_." Bruce responded, equally teasing in return. That was until Diana's smile vanished and was replaced with a serious frown. Bruce quickly grabbed one of Diana's hands while she was still inspecting the wound to draw her full attention. "Diana, I was just kidding around."

"Where is everyone else?" Diana asked, wanting the subject to change. This Bruce just wasn't a warrior, and the scar was just going to be a reminder of how close he'd come to death. If that would've happened, she knew that she would blame herself in the end. Especially after her dream with Athena and Aphrodite.

"Dad's at Wayne Enterprises and Alfred's out in the flower garden with mom." Bruce answered before turning serious himself. "For the first time since I got out of the hospital, we're alone and can speak freely."

Diana didn't like the sound of that. She'd been avoiding the topic of her promise since that night, with Alfred and Bruce's parents there at most times, it was impossible to discuss what she knew was coming, but she'd given her word and she wouldn't back out now if Bruce asked for the answers she had.

"It's time to discuss the elephant in the room Diana." Bruce began. "I know that you're much stronger than you lead everyone to believe, and faster too. It's also obvious to me that you're the one going out at night now, and not that _Kal_ from Smallville. And since you knew him by a different name, that begs the question, how do you really know him? Are you an alien too?"

Diana was shocked for a moment before realizing that Bruce had seen aliens during the White Martian War as well as seeing Kal's spaceship. "I'm…" Diana began before trying to decide how best to describe things so that Bruce wouldn't think she was completely insane. "I'm not sure where to begin."

"How about from the beginning?" Bruce suggested.

"There's not enough time in the day." Diana replied quickly before recanting. "But I'll do the best I can to explain. To start off, no I'm not an alien. I am human, but still different at the same time. I come from an island called Themyscira..."

Diana went into detailed descriptions about the Amazon heritage and the principles she'd been raised on. She described how the gods had bestowed powers unto her, and as their champion she was expected to complete tasks or missions that they deemed necessary of their involvement. She tried to answer him fully about whom and what she was. She did omit the part about her creation and was able to avoid mentioning her current mission. Those two topics were thrown out just based on the look on Bruce's face as he listened to her. Occasionally he would nod to indicate that he was following along or ask small questions for more details, and he remained quiet for a few moments once Diana had given her full answer. She wondered if he was debating whether or not to call Arkham for a new resident or not. "So….You're an Amazon." He said aloud, his voice thick with a mixture of disbelief followed by acceptance when he saw her seriousness exuding her. "All this time the tale of Amazons was thought to be a myth. So you can lift cars, move fast enough to block bullets being fired at you, and can fly. What else are you capable of?"

"I also can heal quickly from injury and won't age like a normal human." Diana responded.

"Why did you hide this from me?" Bruce asked as he slipped on his shirt.

"When I left Themyscira, the first place I ended up was in Metropolis." Diana started. "It became more than evident there that things weren't just different than I'd anticipated, but also if you weren't a part of the Green Lanterns you were initially thought to be an enemy if you have powers like I do."

"Like you were one of the White Martians." Bruce recalled.

"Exactly." Diana confirmed. "And I was looking for friends that would know about this world and how much different it was from what it should be. I realized that I had no friends there so I came to the next city, and that's when I found you."

"You knew that I'd be here?" Bruce questioned as he started to feel slightly apprehensive.

"I didn't know for certain, but I believed it to be a good possibility." Diana replied.

"Explain." Bruce demanded more than asked. He was starting to wonder just who the hell he was really dealing with. All this time he'd thought that they had met by chance and now it seemed that she was seeking him out like all the other females that he'd shunned away from. Diana seemed so different. She never asked for anything from him or expected anything to be given. Instead he'd offered it freely to her, and that made him feel like a fool.

"It's because of my mission Bruce." Diana tried to answer, but Bruce began to reveal a tense frustration. She wasn't going to appease him with vague answers any longer, so she sighed in defeat and continued on hoping that he'd believe her. "This version of the world has been altered Bruce. My gods protected my memories because of someone that is making changes to the world and altering the timeline. There are many things that are very different in this world from the way it should be. Kal was supposed to come to Metropolis where he would become the city's champion, and later a champion for the world. Instead it appears that he came to Gotham City and lost his battle due to the insanity of the Joker. Superman isn't the type of hero that is needed to face off against that type of madness. In that timeline he was the best of friends to me, as well as other heroes that don't seem to be here or are in hiding for different reasons."

"So he came to Gotham City by mistake?" Bruce questioned as he desired more information. "Then what's to become of Gotham? Is there another hero that makes any difference here where he fell short?"

"Yes, but it's a different kind of hero." Diana answered.

"How?" Bruce asked immediately. He wanted to know who this hero was so that he could find them and save Gotham from itself and the Joker.

"His name is Batman." Diana explained. "He is different in that he is the only hero that has no extra powers. He's countered that with years of training in many different styles of combat, both armed and not. He also spent that time honing his body to the point of utter perfection, and used many different types of gadgets and nonlethal forms of weaponry. He also created a variation of different battle suits for protection, constantly improving everything as technology became available to him."

"A normal man with toys can save Gotham, but a super powered being from another planet that you described as virtually invulnerable couldn't?" Bruce questioned. "Seems a bit farfetched if you asked me."

"Batman has a drive of will that is unmatched by anyone I've ever come across." Diana continued. "He is much more violent when it comes to Gotham and serving justice, but he always maintains his one rule that he will do whatever is necessary to save the city, but he won't allow himself to become an executioner. It's those methods that are why Kal wasn't be able to do what is necessary to make a lasting change in a place like this. He's not a warrior like Batman, but a farm boy from Kansas that only wants to make the world a better place. Batman's main concern is saving this city from itself and whenever necessary, from the Joker."

"Who is this Batman?" Bruce asked point blankly. "You have to know him."

"Yes, but it took years to find out." Diana answered. "I'd rather not tell you who he is. You likely wouldn't believe me if I did." Bruce merely crossed his arms over his chest and waited. He wasn't about to budge on this subject. Diana turned away from him before she answered. She didn't want to see his look of utter disbelief, and she just wanted his questions to stop. "He is the reason I…the reason that I came here when you invited me to the charity. He….is you Bruce."

Bruce stood there silently for a moment. His parents had always claimed that he was going to be the one to change Gotham for the better. They'd believed that he was capable of a great many things, but this? How could he be a hero? Sure he had the funding to buy all the gadgets and weapons he'd need, but what about the rest? "Why aren't I this Batman?" Bruce asked.

"You didn't travel abroad learning different fighting techniques, never went to school to study criminology, psychology, or forensics." Diana answered as she kept her back facing him. She didn't want him to see the troubled look on her face.

"Fair enough." Bruce said surprising her a little in the process. "Since you've stayed here under false pretenses, I'm asking that you help me prepare. I need to know everything that I knew then."

"Bruce." Diana called out with tears beginning to grow in her eyes. "I have to complete my mission. When that is done, you will be Batman again. You'll have experienced all of the pains and strains that come with it. All the scars from the various stab wounds, gun shots, and everything else that you've dealt with in the world as it should be. If you want to be Batman, then I need to discover who is responsible for these changes and stop it."

Bruce thought it over for a few moments, and that silence was enough to finally cause Diana to face him again. He could see that there was still something else she wasn't saying, but he was more interested in saving the city at that moment. If that meant helping Diana, then that was precisely what he was going to do. "Alright." He conceded for a moment. "But while we search for your answers, you have to promise to help me train to become the man that you know me to be. Gotham deserves to be saved one way or the other."

Diana stood there looking at the man before her. She could almost see him transforming into the Bruce that she'd grown to know. She was happy to see her friend again, but there was a part of her that was saddened by it as well. Would he be willing to help if he knew that becoming Batman meant losing his parents? She felt absolutely terrible for this man. He deserved happiness while the rest of the world seemingly suffered. It didn't seem fair that this good man would have to be the one to suffer when the world was back to normal, but she knew she didn't have a choice in the matter. Not with what damage had already been done to the time stream. "Very well." She accepted. "Where do we begin?"

~~ JFK Airport ~~

John was waiting at the car rental desk for his paperwork to be approved. He believed that he'd done such good saving lives so far. The selection process had been tedious for him, but he completed his first list and needed a break. For now he was going to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He was finally coming home, and was going to celebrate his sister's graduation from college properly. Their parents had set up a party at their home, and he wasn't about to miss it for the world.

In actuality though if John were to be more honest with himself, then he'd admit that the multiple trips and changes that he'd made were stretching his mind thinner and thinner. Each trip had forced him to remain isolated until the splintering effect he felt in his mind dissipated. During these trips back in time, he'd also realized that the further back he went, the longer it took him to recuperate enough to go again. He'd also found that because of all the changes that he made in the distant past, he was having a difficult time keeping track of what really happened and what didn't. He needed this retreat to calm things down inside, and during his flight while researching his next potential target, he'd decided that going so far back would only be for extreme cases. He wasn't going to save any politicians or public figures as there was just only so much that he could discover about who that person really was. He'd figured that he had made enough positive changes with the thirty-seven lives that he'd saved. Now it was time to remain more focused on lives that he deemed qualified for savior in the recent past. The goal there was to hopefully leave his mind less splintered as there would be only so many changes to adjust to from a few months to a few days versus the multiple years that he'd been traveling back to. He planned to keep his eye on the news for any perceived wrongful deaths and correct them as time progressed going forward.

While John was waiting for the rental car associate, his cell phone began to ring. He pulled it from his belt clip and smiled as soon as he read the caller ID. "Hey sis." He answered joyfully. "What's going on?"

"No need to wait for the rental Johnny." Sarah stated. "Mom and I came to get you from the airport."

"I thought my coming home was supposed to be a surprise." John responded. He'd hoped that his parents were going to keep the secret, but was more than alright with them letting it slip.

"It was." Sarah replied happily. "Surprise!"

John turned around from the car rental desk and looked out the window where he saw his sister standing in front of their mother's car parked next to the terminal loop for drop offs and pick ups. Forgetting about his car rental, he quickly ended the call and picked up his bags. He could feel a difference in his body as his feet became lighter from the anticipation of getting to be with his family again. It was going to be nice seeing them all together, as his six months of grueling isolation had begun to eat away at his sanity. His list was complete for the time being, and he believed that his good deeds had earned him a vacation.

As soon as John reached the car, Sarah jumped into a big bear hug with her brother. They'd been so close over the years. He'd always been the best big brother for a little sister to have, and she'd missed having that security blanket around her. Besides, she had some big news to tell the family about once they were all back home, and she was excited to share her news with all of them.

John loaded his bags into the back of the car before they both climbed in, ready to head home. Ready to be a whole family again for however long they could be. If John had things his way, then it would be for the foreseeable future.

~~ Wayne Enterprises ~~

"Another dead end." Bruce exhaustedly stated while rubbing his eyes. "I don't know that I have the motivation to look at the computer screen again today. We've been at this for hours."

That was something that Diana hadn't expected to ever hear come out of Bruce's mouth. Apparently in this timeline, her friends were all more apt to giving in, but with Bruce she had an ace up her sleeve. "In my timeline, Batman wouldn't have ever uttered those words." She countered. "He wouldn't stop for sleep or for food at times until he found a lead worthy of investigating."

"Alright, alright." Bruce conceded. "But you have to admit that we're looking in the wrong places. There's nothing here to find with this scientist that you say was murdered in your timeline."

"He was." Diana affirmed. "I recall it because of his reputation. He was a renowned scientist even before his death, and his specialty was in the field of biometrics and DNA research. Batman had studied his work, but that wasn't the only reason that his murder stood out. It was how he was murdered that makes his death more pronounced. He was killed by his own daughter in claims that the murder was performed by following role playing games and methods described in some forms of the occult."

"Well I can certainly see why a case like that would stand out in anyone's mind." Bruce agreed initially. "But there's still nothing else aside from the fact that he wasn't killed, and his daughter was convicted of attempted murder instead."

"We should go and talk with him at least." Diana suggested. "Perhaps there's something that he or even his daughter left out of the reports as to just how he escaped his own death since she still made the attempt."

Bruce sighed as he held his head up with his hand using his elbow against his desk to support the weight. "We'll follow this lead if you really want to Diana." He dejectedly stated. "But after that we've got to focus more on what you really know or have known since you originally left your island in the other timeline. That means more than famous murders that you really had no involvement with. So anything in the last three years that would stick out has to be more prevalent to your memory. Honestly this search is reversed. It's going to be more difficult to locate a change when there's no real way to search. It's like finding a needle in a haystack right now."

Bruce stood up and stretched out to fight off the ache from sitting so long. He didn't know how he could possibly last as long as Diana had indicated that he did as this Batman character. He was curious to know more about the other him that she'd been vague at best in describing, but he had to get her to take at least a small break from their search. He glanced back to see that she was pacing again for what seemed like fiftieth time as she was going over something in her head. He continued to work out the kinks in his body and waited until she was done. "The only thing that I was informed of about this mission was that the Fates informed Hades that the life threads of mortals were being tampered with." Diana recounted, breaking a silence that she hadn't been aware of.

"Life threads?" Bruce questioned. This story was just getting odder by the minute he thought.

"Yes." Diana answered before elaborating. "Three sisters called the Fates spin, measure, and cut the life threads of each mortal's life. Each thread represents the life of a mortal from birth when it is spun to their death when it is cut. It appears that the measurements are being altered and the final sister is being forced to wait longer or work more quickly than she'd have to before cutting the life thread. So it's possible that some threads are being shortened while others are lengthened. I wasn't given specific details, but that's the only thing that would logically make sense. The Fates have never had their life threads altered before this."

"So this person is going back in time, and saving or possibly taking the lives of people." Bruce half questioned, but at the same time didn't. "Even still, I assume then that these changes have a less desirable consequence."

"If I don't stop this and correct what's been done, then it is very likely that the timeline will shatter and bring about the end of everything." Diana admitted. "I've seen some of the changes in this world, like how much more unsafe Gotham City is, and Kal's choosing to return to Smallville as two prime examples. The world also seems to be much more tumultuous in this timeline than it should be. I'm not sure if that is a sign of how this person is damaging the timeline or not, but that's beside the point now. I already know the consequences as Apollo has seen it, and that is why I need to find this person. There is no telling how soon the world's end could be coming."

"Fair enough." Bruce complied. "Let's find this scientist and make contact to see if he knows more than he's letting on. I'll find him by morning and we can travel then. If you don't mind though, it's getting late, and even though I'd like to see how much potential I really have to help the city, I'd like to avoid another incident like the airport."

Diana looked at Bruce questioningly for a moment. "We could just fly to the Manor." She offered.

"No." Bruce replied. "While I'm alright with you having added powers, like you've already noticed the rest of the world isn't. The less attention you draw to that the better for the time being. Besides, there's something that I want to show you. Plus we can start formulating another approach to take in the event that this scientist was just more fortunate this time around than in the corrected timeline."

Diana was curious just what it was that Bruce wanted to show her. She knew that she should just find the scientist tonight, but felt that she owed it to Bruce because of his willingness to help her. Even in this timeline, he was still a man that would do what was right it seemed. So she joined him and they left his office entering a close by elevator. Bruce pressed one of the buttons and waited as the doors closed and the elevator began moving down to the floor he'd selected. When the doors opened, it revealed a large and mostly open area aside from some heavy equipment placed here and there throughout. "This is what my father and I had been planning on separating from the rest of the company." He explained as he led her into the area. "It was going to be my own company to run as I saw fit. Right now it's just the R&D section, but when we branch it out on its own, we were planning on naming it WayneTech Enterprises."

Diana looked around at all of the concepts that were stored there as well as the technology that was available. Bruce started unlocking and opening cabinets, and when he was done he called Diana over to show her some more specific things. Inside the first cabinet was a biomechanical suit. "We developed this for the marines, but it was never cost effective enough for the government to warrant such a purchase." Bruce explained. "The plans were eventually scrapped and only this prototype is left. Does it look like something the Batman you know would have used?"

Diana knew exactly what Bruce was asking, but she couldn't stop herself from reaching out to brush her hand down the chest plates of suit. It was heavily armored like Batman's suit, but a tad more bulky. "It's close." She admitted. "But you'd likely find that it hindered your movement and flexibility too much after a few battles. Plus it's missing the Bat insignia and the cape and cowl."

"I'm not sure that I'd want a cape." Bruce contemplated aloud. "It could get hung up on things and put me into vulnerable moments."

"Or it could be a weapon to utilize and a form of helping should you get knocked from a rooftop." She countered quickly before doing a mental forehead slap to herself. She shouldn't be encouraging this when this Bruce didn't have the necessary training. He'd only get himself killed and she wanted to avoid that if at all possible. "We'd better hurry and get back to the Manor Bruce. It was late before we came down here."

Bruce didn't want to but he knew that she had a valid point, and he was still sore from the gunshot wound as well as the surgery. He went ahead and locked up the cabinets and then escorted Diana out of Wayne Tower to the car. She went ahead and drove him home and along the way, their conversation returned to trying to help with her mission. Bruce was the one to start it off to her surprise though. "I think we need to try creating a list to go through." He suggested. "You were on the right track I think with going to what was most familiar to you in your friends initially. We know why your Superman quit, but what we don't know is why he came here instead of Metropolis. We also know that I'm not Batman. But there had to be others that we can add to the list."

"There was John Stewart, a Green Lantern." Diana began. "But I came to find that he'd been killed while fighting the White Martians. We were also teamed with a different Martian. He called himself J'onn Jones and was an integral part in the victory over the White Martians of my timeline. I'm not sure if he was captured by the government like he was in our timeline or not. Next would be Shayera Hol. She is better known as Hawkgirl, and also is an alien from the planet of Thanagar. If she is here though, I'd expect that she is remaining hidden for the most part because of how poorly aliens are thought of here. And finally there is the Flash of Central City. He is known as the fastest man alive, but I've not been able to find anything about him yet to go off of. It would help if I knew his secret identity, but unfortunately I don't."

"Alright, that should be enough to get a better feel for what's going on." Bruce replied. "Maybe if we can find the fastest man alive, he'd be able to help us locate whoever this guy is."

Diana wasn't so sure of that. She didn't even find rumors of a red blur anywhere in the country. She did hope though that Flash could be found and that he did have his powers. She knew that Kal wasn't going to help, and Hawkgirl wasn't going to be easy to track down. If J'onn was alive, he was likely hidden by the government, and there was no Batman to hack into government agencies for information that they could use.

Soon they were back at the Manor safe and sound. Martha had been concerned when they left the mansion earlier that day, but Bruce had promised to be back before sunset, and they were able to keep that promise…barely. They weren't in the house ten minutes before the sun had set over the horizon. Diana stayed for dinner and waited until Bruce's parents retired for the evening before she decided to head out into the city again. There might not be a Batman, but this city still deserved to be saved, and if Diana were to admit it, she wanted to seek out justice because of what had happened to Bruce before. She wasn't satisfied with just the criminals that had attacked them being put behind bars.

Bruce stayed with Diana until she changed into something dark to conceal her identity overtop of her Wonder Woman armor. She'd shed that layer once she was back in the city. Bruce wished her luck and asked that she be careful. It was sweet of him she thought, but completely unnecessary. She gave him an appreciative kiss on his cheek for the concern he showed. She was happy that things were getting back to how they were before Bruce had been shot. There was some ill placed concern that Bruce would be like the rest of the world and shun her away when he discovered she had Meta powers. She began to wonder if that was happening when his anger began to flare up until she realized that he just wanted some answers from her in the end. Giving him those answers surprisingly helped to ease the tension between them more than she'd anticipated, and she was looking forward to seeing the scientist with Bruce in the morning. She knew in the end that two heads are always better than one, and she also knew that she would complete her mission with Bruce's help much more quickly than without it. He was obviously still brilliant in this timeline. It was just that until recently, his brilliance wasn't as focused on the criminal element more so than anything else. So long as he believed that he was helping to better Gotham though, that focus was definitely on the task at hand, and for that Diana was thankful.

~~ Gotham streets ~~

Joker backhanded a lackey that had been standing before him. "So you have Bruce Wayne surrounded, and you let him get away." He growled. "And your whole Joker crew was beaten to a pulp by a billionaire brat and his super model girlfriend? You Billy might be the worst joke I've ever seen."

"B…But Joker sir." The stooge nervously replied. "She wasn't no normal human. She could fly and was ten times stronger than all of us."

"You don't say?" Joker questioned to himself. Could it be true that this other person with extra powers still wanted to come in and try to get control over his city? "I've been wondering if this one breaks as easily as the other one did. Billy my boy, you've brought a smile to this clown's face that's been sadly missing since that S branded jock left town. This is going to be fun."

Billy began to nervously laugh joining along with the Joker' s laughter right up until a gun shot rang through the streets and Billy collapsed to the ground, dead long before gravity had finished pulling his body to the ground. That caused the Joker to laugh even harder as his mind began to race about just how to get this new super powered woman to show herself. He'd been waiting for a challenge, and warring with the mafia just wasn't all that fun anymore. They were all scared and could easily be beaten down if he wanted to do it. But breaking another would be do gooder, now that was a challenge that he was gladly going to accept and greatly enjoy when he had a hand in breaking this one's spirit as well. Especially with the news that he'd received from Billy.

~~ Wayne Manor grounds ~~

Bruce was standing by the cliff, watching as the sun rose to warm the night sky. It was a clear sky, which seemed like a rarity for Gotham. He wondered if Diana's gods and goddesses had made it happen with all the good she was doing for Gotham as a way of thanking her. It also served as motivation for what he'd discovered while Diana slept. He'd found out that the scientist was located forty miles west of Washington D.C. and even though it was the house that he'd been attacked in, he still resided there. He'd also discovered that there were no sightings of a hawk like woman or a speeding man to be found anywhere, but he wasn't done searching yet. He felt that there was an answer there to discover, and it was just going to require some patience and hard work. Neither of which was he unaccustomed to. As he stood there soaking in the morning sun, he could just make out the sound of footsteps on the damp grass behind him, and he turned to find Diana was awake and carrying two cups of coffee to share with him. He took a refreshing sip and then looked into her brilliant blue eyes, trying his best not to get lost in them. Finally he shook free of the hold her eyes seemed to hold on him. "Ready to go?" He asked.


	10. Chapter 10: What Triggers a Memory

Diana and Bruce continue looking for clues as to who is responsible for changing the past, and it triggers something from within.

Chapter 10: What Triggers a Memory

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><p>The trip to the scientist's home was rather uneventful for the most part. Bruce had spent the short flight telling Diana about his findings; or rather lack thereof regarding her other friends. Even though he'd found nothing though, she could still see a determination in his eyes and knew that he was far from giving up on his search. It almost seemed that the more time she spent with him, the more and more of the Bat that seemed to emerge from within him. She knew that deep down the Bat was always inside of him; a part of his life, but seeing how quickly that personality was growing caused her to wonder if her being around Bruce was such a good thing for him. He seemed to be so much more happy in this timeline than the Bruce that she'd come to know over the years, and a large part of her wished that he could remain as happy as he was now. Bruce had done enough in her timeline to deserve that happiness. At the same time though she knew that he seemed to want to be around her, and that sense was also growing. She'd picked it up from his body language toward her and the way that he looked at her. The other part of her didn't want him to become the Bat because he simply wasn't ready for it.<p>

During the car ride Diana silently thought about how she'd spent the last few nights scouring over the entire city, and it was simply put one of the most dangerous places to be at night. She even struggled at times dealing with the sheer violent nature that seeped up through the streets as soon as the sun set without succumbing to it and taking a life. Even the actual Batman would have problems with everything that she'd seen and tried to put a stop to. At the rate she was going, it would take years to return Gotham to how it was with Batman protecting it for years and having already established himself as a threat that any criminal would fear by the time she'd arrived in the corrected timeline. Just like every other night, the most recent one had come and gone with mixed results as a good portion of the people that she rescued were nowhere near as appreciative of her intervention as she recalled them being in her own timeline. Undeterred though, that night she'd managed to interrupt a small convenience store robbery, ten mugging attempts, sixteen separate brawls outside of bars, and four rape attempts. Eventually though she'd had enough of the questions about why she was doing this almost as much as she disliked the fear of her simply because she had powers. She was clearly using her powers to help and not destroy, and she couldn't understand why the people of this timeline struggled with their quickness to judge. All of this only brought her closer to the conclusion that this Bruce wouldn't survive it very long even with all of the technology he had at his disposal. After all he only had what could at best be defined as a modest training regimen of MMA, and nowhere near the amount that would be required for him to actually stand much of a chance in becoming the vaunted protector of Gotham. Thinking of this Bruce taking on the streets also brought a more bone chilling fear to her, and that was if he'd ever come to be in front of the Joker. She hoped that before he did try and venture out into the night, that she could focus her attention on the Joker and bring him down. Then there would at least be some semblance of hope for a city that was seemingly without it, and perhaps with that time this Bruce would have a better chance to prepare himself. She simply knew that it was an inevitability and her attempting to talk him out of it would only strengthen his resolve to push onward.

Diana thought back to how her night had ended with hours spent coming across and running out of leads to go off of before she'd decided to call it a night and pick up where she left off the next evening. She was hopeful to find someone there that could and would lead her to the demented clown. With the Joker behind bars, it would be easier to track down and subdue his crew of followers, just like chopping off a snake's head. Then if time permitted during her mission, she would focus on the mob and bring them crashing down from their prominence too. She wasn't about to start with the low level crooks either. Instead she planned to have Bruce help by finding her the names of the most powerful and influential mobsters and she was going to bring them all in. If they ended up getting released as they had time and time again with Kal, then they'd still have to stay in the hospital as they recovered from the bones that she intended to break. With the plans for her late night activities running through her mind, she noticed for the first time that she was being watched. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, no." Bruce answered with a pleasant smile. "I was just wondering what was going through your mind is all. You seemed a little preoccupied with your thoughts."

"Just…." She started to deceive him by discussing the scientist again, but thought better of it as she simply wouldn't lie to him, even if it was in what she believed to be his best interest. "Just thinking of how I'll approach going into Gotham tonight moving forward. I want to have the Joker incarcerated before he can do any more damage in the city."

"Were you able to find anything promising to go off of?" Bruce asked, and Diana regrettably heard him perking up by the tone of his voice. He was excited to hear about her efforts toward Gotham, and she knew that there were underlying reasons why.

"No." Diana answered before turning to look out of the rental car window. She was beginning to regret letting him in on the knowledge that he was the one to keep Gotham safe at night, but she simply wouldn't lie as the truth was the only approach worth taking. Although she'd almost been forced to explain the reason behind him becoming Batman, and barley managed to avoid that. It was a relief that he'd focused on the what's and how's of him becoming Batman rather than the why. She only hoped that he would remain silent when it came to that question. She could only imagine the devastating effect having that knowledge would do for him. How would someone react if they were to find out that all of the great things they could accomplish and do for a great many people in the world was possible, but at such a great cost? It was difficult enough for her to deal with, and she was on the outside looking in.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked with concern laced through his voice. He'd noticed how she turned away when the topic returned to Gotham City, and wondered why she'd suddenly become so sullen.

Diana picked up on the concern immediately and forced herself to turn away from the window to face Bruce. She put on a bright smile and reached for his hand. "Don't be concerned about me Bruce." She said in an attempt to ease his worries. "It was just a frustrating night, and I'd rather look forward to where we're heading."

"We've all had nights like that before so I can certainly understand." Bruce replied before revealing a brilliant smile with a look that told Diana that he knew something she wasn't aware of. She'd not seen those eyes with this version of Bruce before, but with him adding the full smile compared to barely a smirk, she found that she really liked what she saw. "Since you want to look forward to today, then the good news is that we're here, and so is the professor."

Diana began to question what Bruce was saying until she'd looked to where his eyes were fixed as the car slowed and pulled into the driveway of the scientist who had just gone back into his home. He looked startled by the sight of a car pulling into his driveway, and that was likely the reasoning behind his fleeing. Diana and Bruce climbed out of the car and she went right to the front door before she began to knock. "Dr. Schwartz!" She called out. "Please, we just have a few questions."

"Haven't you people heard enough?" Came the voice of the scientist through the door. "I've told my story over and over to the authorities. I have nothing more to share. Now please go away."

"I'm afraid we can't do that." Bruce replied. "There are some things about your account of that day, and they don't add up. We promise that we won't take up any more of your time than absolutely necessary."

"No!" Dr. Schwartz yelled through the door. "Go away!"

Bruce turned toward Diana and gave a shrug of his shoulders along with a look that told her that they weren't going to gain access without some form of force. So she returned to the car for a moment to grab her duffle bag, and slung it over her shoulders. She surveyed the area for any onlookers, and when she was sure everything was clear, she took flight and went around to the back door of Schwartz's house. It was a sliding glass door and happened to be locked, but one swift tug was all it took before the lock snapped and allowed her access to the professor's house. She stepped in to see the scientist as he was staring back at her. He'd seen how she'd managed to break in and was startled to where he seemed to be petrified. She took that opportunity to subdue him and didn't allow him the chance to do anything else before grabbing him by the arm and escorting him to the front door where she unlocked and opened it for Bruce. She then took the good doctor to a dinner table chair and sat him down. "We're not here to hurt you." She began gently. "But we believe that you might've intentionally left out a major detail regarding the account of what happened that night. All I'm asking for is the truth."

Schwartz attempted to swallow down the large lump that had formed in his throat. "I…I don't know what you're talking about." He said hesitantly. "I swear."

"How did you avoid the attempt on your life by your daughter that night?" Bruce asked.

"We know that you weren't aware of what Clara was planning until after the attempt on your life was made." Diana added for good measure and to attempt to throw the doctor off a little. She hoped to get a reaction out of him, but couldn't see any if there was one. Still though his eyes were telling her that he knew more than what he had shared. "Who warned you about what she was planning to do?"

"N…no one." Schwartz answered somewhat defiantly. He was scared but he wasn't slipping. He'd given his word and he intended to keep quiet. "I'm afraid you're mistaken."

"You're lying." Diana accused instantly. "And you're beginning to try my patience Dr. Schwartz."

"What could be so important that you're so adamantly refusing to reveal?" Bruce questioned. It was at that moment where Diana almost wished that the Batman was there. He'd have gotten the answers they were looking for already. At the rate they were going she started to believe that she was going to have to pull out the Lasso of Truth, but that was until Bruce continued to interrogate. "You stumbled when we asked who warned you. I'm no expert, but that tells me that you weren't being honest with us. So who was it? What did they do or say that would cause you to hide the truth? We're not leaving without some answers, so why not do yourself a favor and just tell us what really happened. Start at the beginning if you like, but we want to know who you're protecting."

The professor gulped again as he tried and failed to moisten his dry throat. He took Bruce's prompt and told the story from the beginning of how he'd come home. Both Bruce and Diana let him recount what happened up to the point where he described how his daughter had claimed that he'd struck and tried to poison her before he came to the point of the story they were waiting for. "Clara came out of the bedroom and approached me from behind." The professor claimed. "If not for her stepping on a creaky floorboard I wouldn't have turned in time to avoid being stabbed. I reacted out of fear and shoved her away, and she tumbled over the couch and knocked her head against the coffee table. That gave me enough time to get back out of the front door, and then I called the police."

"You haven't told us anything." Diana said in a frustrated and raised voice as she unzipped her duffle bag. "We've wasted enough time, and if you'll not give us the truth willingly then I have ways to extract it from you."

Bruce stood quickly and grabbed the arm that Diana was using to reach into the duffle bag with. "Diana, what are you doing?" He asked in a quick whisper. There was a look of concern mixed with some form of fear on his face until she pulled out a seemingly golden glowing rope. He was still confused, but seeing that she wasn't holding a weapon like a gun, he chose to release his hold on her arm. "What are you going to do with that?"

Diana formed a noose at one end and tossed it over the professor's head before giving a light flick of her wrist which caused the lasso to become taut around the professor's neck. "This is the Lasso of Truth." She explained. "The one that is bound by it is compelled to speak the truth when being questioned. I'd hoped that we could've appealed to Dr. Schwartz's honesty, especially since he witnessed my entrance, and that means he's already aware that I have powers." Once finished with her explanation, Diana then focused her attention onto the professor. "Now then, why are you hiding the truth of that night from everyone?"

"Because I was asked not to reveal he was there that night." Schwartz finally revealed.

"Who was this man and why didn't he want you to share his bravery?" Diana pressed for more.

"I don't know who he is." The professor began to answer. "There was a flash of light, and when I turned to see the cause, there was this man dressed in black slamming some weapon like a nightstick into the back of Clara's head. She still was still holding the sword in her hands when she hit the floor. I don't know why he wished to not be recognized, but he clearly didn't as he told me that I was to keep from even mentioning anything at all about his presence there, or else he'd make sure Clara didn't fail the next time."

"Is that all this man mentioned?" Diana asked. "And what else can you tell us about the man?"

"He also said that he'd be keeping tabs on my actions." The professor recounted. "And he said for me to continue the good things that I was doing for the world with my research, and before he left he mentioned to me that he had more lives to save before he disappeared into that same bright light from before. He was wearing something that looked like police protective gear along with a ski mask and gloves, and he was covered head to toe in black. He also had a strange necklace with a medallion on it that he pulled out just before he disappeared."

"We're done here." Diana stated to Bruce before focusing once more on the good doctor, but she missed the contemplative look that Bruce had plastered all over his face after hearing the professor's last answer. "Rest now and when you wake, you will believe that this was merely a bad dream." The professor proceeded to close his eyes and once his breathing became labored; Diana removed the lasso from him and tucked it back into her duffle bag before standing and making her way to the front door.

Bruce remained quiet as they exited the house and started the car before pulling out of the professor's driveway. When they'd remained quiet during the next two miles down the road though he became impatient with the questions that he had, and began blurting them out in succession without allowing one to be answered before the next was being asked. "What was that? Why did Dr. Schwartz just give up the answers when he wouldn't before? What else can you do that I don't know about?"

"I suppose a good place to begin with telling you what this is." Diana began as she reached into her bag and pulled out the golden rope. "This is the Lasso of Truth. It was forged by the fires of Hestia from the Golden Girdle of Gaea. There are many powers that can be drawn from the lasso. As you saw, it compels those bound by it to speak the truth, but it also can restore lost memories, is known to have the capability of healing the holder's body or cure insanity, and it is unbreakable. You've already discovered most of my powers on your own, and the last is one that you wouldn't otherwise be able to know for many years as I am an immortal and won't age like a normal human. With you now knowing of the lasso as well, the only thing left is my armor which I've also stored inside this bag, and I've been wearing it underneath the darker clothes when I've gone into the city at night."

Bruce glanced over as Diana pulled out the armor piece by piece as she showed him the tiara, breastplate, belt, and boots. "Seems to lack protection from attack in certain areas." Bruce surmised. "What if you get hit where your armor doesn't cover you?"

"Let me worry about that when the time comes." Diana responded confidently as though she believed it wouldn't be very likely.

~~ Gotham suburb ~~

John was sitting in the living room with his father while his mother was finishing with the dinner preparations for later that evening. It was a quiet afternoon at the Samuelson house, and he was never more thankful for the calm. The night before when they'd all arrived from the airport had been very busy as John's father was just finishing up the preparations for Sarah's graduation party. It was a blessing for his parents that everything seemed to go well the entire evening. Friends and family had all started to arrive just as John had settled his things away, and that was fortunate for him because he'd realized as he unpacked that he'd mistakenly brought the Triangle of Light along with him instead of storing it in his designed secure location when he wasn't planning on using it. At first he separated the two pieces and secured them in different locations, but then he thought better of it and combined the two before slipping it over his head.

When the party ended, John helped his parents clean up as Sarah stayed with the last of her friends that hadn't left yet. Soon though as the sky began to darken they'd all made their exits in order to head home. Even the suburbs of Gotham weren't completely immune to the violence that came out at night it seemed. It was when he noticed the nervous looks of the few stragglers as they left that he began to question why, but soon all the guests were gone and his family was all safe and sound inside their home. Seeing how happy everyone was together was what he'd hoped he could be responsible for with his ability to travel back into time, and it served as proof to him that he was doing good things even if his mind was splintering more and more with each trip before eventually pulling itself back together. But that was part of what this time was for, to help him center his thoughts. The rest was just to enjoy some free time with his family.

John was planning on taking his sister out for a movie after dinner. It'd been too long since he'd gotten to have some quality time with his sister since he'd saved her all those years ago. Sure there were memories of his time growing up with her in his life rather than not, but sometimes he felt it was almost more like looking at photos in an album rather than actually experiencing them for himself. Tonight was going to be different. He was going to experience this moment and there'd be nothing that was going to steal that away from him. It would be more than just another picture in his mind. That was going to be a gift to himself that he'd felt he more than deserved. Sometimes it was the little things that meant the most and something as simple as seeing a movie at the theater was going to be one to cherish.

~~ Wayne Manor ~~

Something was wrong. Diana could sense it as Bruce had seemed to put some distance between himself and her. He'd isolated himself for hours in his physical therapy room, even declining to join everyone for dinner. She wondered if pulling out the Lasso of Truth and revealing all of its powers could be the cause of this change. Bruce had seemed to be so accepting of all her powers up until that point though, and she couldn't see why that would've changed. He had been so different in that area from seemingly everyone else, but perhaps even he had his own limitations. She didn't do much in the way of easing his parents' concerns either as she sat at the dinner table with them and did more poking at the food in front of her rather than eating. She figured that they would assume there was some form of argument between Bruce and her that had been the cause, and until she knew what it was, she was willing to let them believe that. After dinner, Diana went to the study and stood in front of the grandfather clock watching as it ticked the seconds away. She knew that each second meant she was one more second closer to failing in her mission, but Bruce was weighing on her mind more than anything at that particular time. "I'm sure that with some patience and compromise between the two of you, that whatever trouble you both are facing will be resolved." The voice of Thomas Wayne stated from behind her. She almost jumped at the sound of his voice. He'd managed to sneak up behind her without her noticing. Until now she thought only Bruce was capable of such a feat.

"I'm sorry." Diana responded quietly. "I didn't know you were behind me."

"I didn't mean to startle you Diana." Thomas apologized as she turned to face him. "But after dinner and seeing you here staring at the clock there, I thought I should say something to ease at least one of your troubled minds. Normally I'd just discuss what is right in front of a guest, but I doubt you would be interested in me going on about how that grandfather clock goes back to the times of the Civil War. Besides, Martha's proven to be more successful at getting through to Bruce when he gets like he's been today, so I thought giving it a try with you might be more beneficial."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm actually not entirely sure what I did to trouble Bruce." Diana responded as her arms instinctively wrapped around her own body in a protective hug.

"Then I wouldn't worry about it." Thomas consoled. "My boy is quite taken with you. Has been since the first day he laid eyes on you. Whatever this is, it'll pass and when it does he'll be willing to talk it through with you. He just seems to have this innate need to understand things before he wants to share what it is that confuses him. I know from experience how infuriating at times it can be, but in the end Bruce always has done what's right."

"You must be very proud of him." Diana assumed.

"Yes, yes I am." Thomas concurred. "Martha and I couldn't have asked for a better son. We've always believed that he was meant for great things in his life. The only thing that we hope for though is that he continues to make time for his own happiness, although I think that's being addressed." Diana gave a confused look upon hearing that, but that only caused Thomas to chuckle as he turned to leave the study and let his words sink in for the young woman that had captured his son's heart. "I can't give you kids all the answers. Some are better off to be figured out without instructions or having your hands held and being shown the way."

Diana heard Thomas chuckling again as he made his way down the hallway. She waited until the chuckle turned into a faint echo before turning back to face the clock, and she began to process through all of what Bruce's father had shared with her. She was already aware that Bruce held an attraction toward her, but how could it be more than mere lust? They had only known each other in this timeline for a couple weeks, and already his parents were apparently picking up on something that they themselves were missing. Could it be more than lust so quickly? She'd heard of fairy tales and of love at first sight, but never really believed that it was possible. After all, you couldn't possibly know what type of a person someone really was by just looking at them. Maybe that was what was troubling Bruce. Perhaps he'd realized his feelings for her and then saw how complicated things could become when he had apparently begun having romantic feelings for an immortal.

Inside his training room, Bruce was back to laying into a heavy bag with thunderous punches. He'd been doing this intermittently ever since he'd locked himself away from everyone else. There was something not sitting well with him that he needed to work out, but this time seemed to be much different than any others. Sure he'd been frustrated or angered to the point of needing to go after a punching bag, but never before had he gone at it for hours. There seemed to be something inside of him that was driving him to continue punishing the bag. His knuckles had all long since been shredded apart and bloodied, but he seemed to welcome the pain. He knew after refusing to leave for the call of dinner that there would be speculation as to why he was absent, and likely especially so from a certain Amazon immortal. While he did feel badly about the probability that she'd assume her revealing all of her powers to him as the cause for his self imposed isolation, that simply wasn't the case. He found that he actually enjoyed knowing someone with so much power and having the compassion and desire to use it only for the benefit of others. She was trying to use her powers to make Gotham a safer place to live, and that was being done two fold as she was trying to correct the timeline as well as going out into the city at night. She'd mentioned that if they restored the timeline, Gotham would have its protector in him becoming a hero in his own right. He knew that he could develop the technology in this timeline, but she'd also indicated that he didn't go through all of the training that his alternate self had. In reality he hoped that they would succeed. A safer Gotham was what his family had wanted and fought for over the years, and it was that thought which was troubling him. Not for them working toward a safer Gotham City, but more so for the when. "Bruce." He heard his mother call as she'd apparently used a skeleton key to unlock the door and enter the training room.

Martha saw her son breathing hard as he was hugging the punching bag, almost as though it was the only thing holding him upright. She wondered just what it could be that had worked him up into such a frenzy. Alfred had assured her that the trip from the airport was quiet and uneventful, and that whatever the issue Bruce was dealing with didn't seem to result in his asking for Diana to leave. In fact Alfred added that Bruce took Diana's hand as a gentlemanly offer to help her out of the car which she did accept. So it was just a matter of finding out what was actually troubling her son and attempting to help him see his way through whatever it was. "Bruce." She called out again as she began to walk over toward him. "Don't you think it's time that you let go of whatever it is that's bothering you? We were all concerned when you didn't join us for dinner."

"I know, and I'm sorry mom." Bruce offered. "I shouldn't have stayed up here all afternoon long, but I've just been trying to figure something out."

"Well why don't you discuss it with Diana?" Martha suggested. "I'm sure that whatever it is, the two of you can work it out if you just talk it through. Your father and I know that there's something special about this girl. Don't let her slip through your grasp sweetheart. We think that she could be the type of person that only comes around once in a lifetime. It's the same way I felt about your father when we first met."

Bruce let go of the bag and turned to face his mother. What she'd said was true, more true than she or his father could even imagine, and it was true that he felt something different about Diana than he had with any of the other women that he'd dated. "Mom, it's not Diana." He said much to her relief, but that only lasted for a short time as he continued. "It's about something that a professor we visited today said. He was saved by a man in black, and he said something that caused me to think about something."

"What is it honey?" His mother asked even though she wasn't sure if she really wanted to know.

"He said that the man in black told him to continue doing good for the world." Bruce explained. "It made me think about that time when we were all saved. To what that man said to us, but I can't remember it all clearly. I need someone to help me go over that night again. I need to know if this was the same man."


End file.
